Herbert Simon
American economist and cognitive scientist who won Nobel for decision-making models, noting 'What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients.'
Quotes by Herbert Simon
The capacity of the human mind for formulating and solving complex problems is very small compared with the size of the problems whose solution is required for objectively rational behavior in the real world—or even for a reasonable approximation to such objective rationality.
A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.
Decision making is not a matter of choosing the best alternative, but of finding a satisfactory one.
Rationality is bounded when it falls short of omniscience and perfect computation.
Learning is any change in a system that produces a more or less permanent change in its potential for adapting to its environment.
The world is not a collection of independent facts, but a system of interacting parts.
The proper study of mankind is man, but the proper study of organizations is organizations.
Satisficing is a portmanteau of 'satisfy' and 'suffice'.
What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.
The computer is not a brain, but it is a tool for understanding the brain.
The human mind, in its most characteristic forms, is a symbol-manipulating system.
The problem is not to find the best solution, but to find a good enough solution.
The ability to learn is the most important skill of all.
Science is a way of knowing, not a way of believing.
The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
The capacity of the human mind for formulating and solving complex problems is very small compared with the size of the problems whose solution is required for objectively rational behavior in the real world.
What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients.
Satisficing means finding a satisfactory solution rather than an optimal one.
Human rational behavior... is shaped by a scissors whose two blades are the structure of task environments and the computational capabilities of the actor.
The proper way to study decision making is to study the processes that lead to decisions.