Quote:I think you guys are just having another paranoid overreaction.  "Behavioral science" has been used by every government in history.   If you are trying to deter or encourage certain behaviors, you are using a form of "behavioral science."   How can we better encourage people to save money for their retirement?   How can we deter people from committing murder?  How can we get people to eat better?   This is all behavioral science.  

 

What is actually ridiculous about this White House memo is that they would publish it at all.  Because if they weren't already using behavioral science, then what the heck were they doing? 

 

Read the memo.   It's actually the most harmless, pointless memo you can read. 

 

"Let's try some things and see if they work." 

 

And you guys say, "Oh, my God, Obama is starting behavioral science experiments on the population without their permission!"