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Giant Brain Candy: Built Like a Smoke Alarm. When a false alarm is cheap and a missed fire is deadly, a well-designed alarm gives many false alarms. Psychiatrist Randolph Nesse argues our fear and anxiety are built the same way. Source: The smoke-detector principle.
A working modelThe research
  1. Nesse, R. M. (2019). Good reasons for bad feelings: Insights from the frontier of evolutionary psychiatry. Dutton.

Journey 7 · Uncertainty

Built Like a Smoke Alarm

When a false alarm is cheap and a missed fire is deadly, a well-designed alarm gives many false alarms. Psychiatrist Randolph Nesse argues our fear and anxiety are built the same way.

Source: The smoke-detector principle · A working model

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