Too Much Information: Understanding What You Don't Want to Know

Cass R. Sunstein

ISBN 10: 0262543915 / ISBN 13: 9780262543910

Editore: MIT Press Feb 2022, 2022

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Neuware - The New York Times bestselling co-author of Nudge explores how more information can make us happy or miserable and why we sometimes avoid it but sometimes seek it out. How much information is too much Do we need to know how many calories are in the giant vat of popcorn that we bought on our way into the movie theater Do we want to know if we are genetically predisposed to a certain disease Can we do anything useful with next week's weather forecast for Paris if we are not in Paris In Too Much Information, Cass Sunstein examines the effects of information on our lives. Policymakers emphasize the right to know, but Sunstein takes a different perspective, arguing that the focus should be on human well-being and what information contributes to it. Government should require companies, employers, hospitals, and others to disclose information not because of a general right to know but when the information in question would significantly improve people's lives. Of course, says Sunstein, we are better off with stop signs, warnings on prescription drugs, and reminders about payment due dates. But sometimes less is more. What we need is more clarity about what information is actually doing or achieving.

Codice articolo 9780262543910

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Too Much Information: Understanding What You Don't Want to Know
• Editore: MIT Press Feb 2022
• Data di pubblicazione: 2022
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0262543915
• ISBN 13: 9780262543910
• Rilegatura: Taschenbuch
• Condizione: Neu
• Dimensioni: 197 L x 131 A x 20 P (millimetri) 197 millimetri di larghezza per 131 millimetri di altezza per 20 millimetri di profondità
• Peso: 273 grammi

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

The New York Times–bestselling co-author of Nudge explores how more information can make us happy or miserable—and why we sometimes avoid it but sometimes seek it out.

How much information is too much? Do we need to know how many calories are in the giant vat of popcorn that we bought on our way into the movie theater? Do we want to know if we are genetically predisposed to a certain disease? Can we do anything useful with next week's weather forecast for Paris if we are not in Paris?

In Too Much Information, Cass Sunstein examines the effects of information on our lives. Policymakers emphasize “the right to know,” but Sunstein takes a different perspective, arguing that the focus should be on human well-being and what information contributes to it. Government should require companies, employers, hospitals, and others to disclose information not because of a general “right to know” but when the information in question would significantly improve people's lives.
 
Of course, says Sunstein, we are better off with stop signs, warnings on prescription drugs, and reminders about payment due dates. But sometimes less is more. What we need is more clarity about what information is actually doing or achieving.

Informazioni sull?autore

Cass R. Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration. He was the recipient of the 2018 Holberg Prize, one of the largest annual international research prizes awarded to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in the arts and humanities, social science, law, or theology. He is the author of The Cost-Benefit Revolution, How Change Happens (both published by the MIT Press), Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler), and other books.