LESSON ONE: Living in Babble On

Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon | Louvre Museum | Paris

This basalt stele was erected by King Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BC) probably at Sippar, city of the sun god Shamash, god of justice. Other monuments of this type belonging to a similar tradition were placed in the towns of his kingdom. Two Sumerian legal documents drawn up by Ur-Namma, king of Ur (c.

​LOVE THE LOUVRE: The Louvre’s “Closer Look” interactive tour of the code of Hammurabi will give you some idea of how rocking he was, what he said, and how he said it. 

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ROCK ON: How A Bill Becomes Law, a classic from Schoolhouse Rock. Note the nuanced differences between how modern American and ancient Babylonian laws are created. 

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GO FOR IT: 4th and 2 on your own 28-yard line, leading by six points with the game winding down. Convert for a first down and you win. Punt it away and you give your opponent time to beat you. What do you do? Well, the numbers convincingly say go for it. But when it doesn’t work out, prepare to be crushed by sportswriters focused only on the results. 

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Defending Belichick's Fourth-Down Decision

(Brian Burke, a former Navy pilot who has taken up the less dangerous hobby of N.F.L. statistical analysis, operates Advanced NFL Stats, a blog about football, math and human behavior.) New England Coach Bill Belichick is taking a lot of heat for his decision to attempt a 4th-down conversion from his own 28 with a late 6-point lead against the Colts.

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PLAY THE BLAME GAME: Researchers looked at how we judge people’s ethics after the outcome of their actions are known. In a working paper published by Harvard Busi- ness School, they find “that individuals judge behaviors as less ethical, more blameworthy, and punish them more harshly, when such behaviors led to undesirable consequences, even if they saw those behaviors as acceptable before they knew its consequences.” Not only can we find you guilty based on outcome bias, but we can determine that you were a lousy, unethical human being all along. 

No Harm, No Foul: The Outcome Bias in Ethical Judgments by Francesca Gino, Don A. Moore, Max H. Bazerman :: SSRN

We present six studies demonstrating that outcome information biases ethical judgments of others' ethically-questionable behaviors. In particular, we show that

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GET QUIZZED:
​1. Three gamblers enter a casino with $1,000 apiece and spend some time at the roulette wheel. At the end of the night the first gambler has turned $1,000 into $5,000. The second gambler stayed flat, leaving with $1,000. The last gambler left with nothing, blowing all $1,000. Who was the best gambler?​

2. The three gamblers are Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra. Frank Sinatra goes on to be nominated over thirty times for a Grammy and wins thirteen. Sammy wins four, and Dean just one for lifetime achievement. Who was the best singer?

3. Frank, Sammy, and Dean jump in their cars for a race down the strip. They arrive at the Sands in the following order: Dean, Sammy, Frank. Who was the fastest driver?

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