Thursday, October 29, 2009

Looking back over human history, rationality has been the anomaly. Being rational takes work, education, and a sober determination to avoid making hasty inferences, even when they appear to make perfect sense. Much like infectious diseases themselves — beaten back by decades of effort to vaccinate the populace — the irrational lingers just below the surface, waiting for us to let down our guard.

Wired: ‘An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All’ (via Instapaper)