From large killing cars to living frozen embryos, the world is littered with absurd decisions that affect millions. These are not in the same realm of impact and responsibility, of course. They are, however, indicative of the prioritization of private concerns over the public.
Decision making theory is a large field and requires expertise in many areas: anthropology, economics, medicine, environment, philosophy, sociology all come into play depending on the decision. The sole conclusion is that the factors that drive private decisions should not be the same for public policymaking.
There are many theoretical foundations to justify this conclusion. Here, an anecdote should suffice. When I was in college, I took a class on Pharmacoeconomics. Imagine that. A whole class to explain how to make decisions on pharmaceutics only. The course itself barely scratched the surface of the complexity associated with the field. However, it will always stay with me. The professor introduced the different basic methods to decide how much a single payer system would pay for a given drug. They then proceeded to demonstrate the methods with the class from simplest to most complex.
The first example is haggling. The professor says “we are going to use a fictional drug for vitiligo as the example. How much would you pay for it?”. (Yes, decisions are made like this.) One girl raises her hand and blurts out “Nothing, I am so white. It would never show.” Someone yelled WTF! The professor was so thrown by this that it derailed their whole class plan. I don’t remember exactly what happened next and it does not matter. It was all I needed to learn about private vs public decision making.
The biases in private decisions are well known. The most common one is the idea that any persons’ family has higher value and most importantly that anything can be justified if your family is getting ahead. The big car discourse is a great example of this thought process. The theory goes, having a big SUV is good because your family won’t die in case of a collision. Does it matter that pedestrians, especially children, are more likely to be hit and die? Does it matter that it endangers people in smaller vehicles? Does it matter that it pollutes more? No. None of it matters. These other questions are why government regulations are necessary.
How do we square that with the Alabama Supreme Court decision on frozen embryos? At a basic level, it is a grotesque introduction of private values (religion) into public policy. However, the most telling aspect is that the case only existed because a couple had their frozen embryos destroyed in an accident. While I sympathize with the pain of facing infertility and having the potential children be removed, demanding that other parties pay for your pain, wasting the state’s time and resources and endangering women across the state is unjustifiable.
The most common argument justifying prioritization of private whims over public well-being is “human nature”. Aside from being a lie, it ignores that American society is steeped in rugged individualism. Americans get propaganda on the value of self from birth and conclude that individualism is “human nature”. Humanity only got this far by maintaining societal bonds. To pretend that everyone by themselves is the natural way is preposterous. Even if it were true, prioritization of the community can be taught.
Everyone has biases. The same is true for institutions and algorithms. Recognizing them is hard but necessary for better decision making. If you are not allowed to learn of your biases, not allowed to analyze their impacts, nor learn how to mitigate them, all your decisions will be faulty.
Combating biases in decision making is crucial for the development of a more equitable society. Education can combat biases and inform the future policy makers of better methods. The fact that education is constantly undermined by the defenders of individualism is not a coincidence.
What guides your private decisions is not always correct and rarely should be applied in a public setting. That includes suggesting courses of action to others. Decisions that affect the public require training, sensitivity, and humility to implement solutions that benefit most people. One should always keep that in mind when making decisions but also when making suggestions, giving advice, or posting.
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