Economics, we learn in the history of thought, only became a science by escaping from the casuistry and moralizing of medieval thought.

[Even the mechanism can be endowed with an image. Thus] the thermostat has an image of the outside world in the shape of information regarding its temperature. It has also a value system in the sense of the ideal temperature at which it is set. Its behavior is directed towards the receipt of information which will bring its image and its value systems together.

[The question for the behavioral disciplines is simply] what is better, and how do we get there?

A somewhat casual observer from outer space might well deduce that the course of evolution in this planet had produced a species of large four-wheeled bugs with detachable brains; peculiar animals which rested when they sent their brains away from them but performed in rather predictable manner when their brains were recalled.

Economics, we learn in the history of thought, only became a science by escaping from the casuistry and moralizing of medieval thought.

Economic problems have no sharp edges. They shade off imperceptibly into politics, sociology, and ethics. Indeed, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the ultimate answer to every economic problem lies in some other field.

We should always bear in mind that numbers represent a simplification of reality.