Andart

Don't trust the sleepless

Don’t stay up and decide: sleep deprivation and the culture of late night summits - inspired by Andreas Cervernka's essay on the problem of decisionmakers deciding in late-night meetings, I blog on Practical Ethics about the problem. It is not a small problem: very big decisions are made by people who are for all practical purposes intoxicated.

The fact that we accept this form of shoddy decisionmaking is troubling. The best way to combat it is likely to make it vivid: next time you see a finance minister or CEO holding a press conference after a late night meeting, envision him standing there drunk with a bottle. Then call them out on making important decisions while impaired.