Why smart people go bad

Here is an interesting essay that covers why and how to overcome individuals who defend bad ideas.

I have always found the philosophy of human behavior very interesting. How people react, think, make decisions and interact with others all depends on a couple things, the environment in which we are surrounded and human nature. The second part of this, human nature, is what really intrigues me. How human beings tick, what makes them tick, how we tick and why we tick the way we do. Mainly we tick the way we do because of evolution and we can't do much about it, the force is sometimes just to great. Now, humans are smart and very adaptive which helps us overcome !some! of this force but there are just some main traits that we really can not do anything about.

The essay gets into the inherited traits by taking a look at short term verses long term decision making. Very interesting! Sure we have dreams and goals but for the most part humans love dealing with today. I am really a victim of this trait and rarely know what my plans are 2 - 3+ weeks from now. I am more interested in what is happening today and most of the time bank on the fact that the goals I reach today will help setup and put me in a better position to reach future goals/dreams in those next 2 - 3+ weeks.

This site by someone named Scott Berkun also has a few other very interesting essays.

The battle continues...