FOR MOST OF HUMAN HISTORY, PEOPLE WERE NOT REALLY FACED with an array of choices and opportunity costs. Instead of “Should I take A or B or C or…?” the question people asked themselves was more like “Should I take it or leave it?” In a world of scarcity, opportunities don’t present themselves in bunches, and the decisions people face are between approach and avoidance, acceptance or rejection. We can assume that having a good sense of this—of what’s good and what’s bad—was essential for survival. But distinguishing between good and bad is a far simpler matter than distinguishing good from
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