How we (should) decide
Caspar Hare is interested in your choices. Not the ones you’ve already made, but the ones you will make, and how you’ll go about making them. The more important, the better.By way of example, suppose you’re deciding between two careers: journalism and physics. You enjoy both, but for different reasons: Journalism lets you interact with a broad swath of society, exercise your passion for writing and reach a wider audience; physics, though, represents the allure of science, with the freedom to chart a research trajectory at the forefront of human knowledge.Suppose, too, for argument’s sake, that you had a pretty good idea of how each career would turn out. Either way, you’d be successful and recognized within your field. You’d live in a desirable location and make a good salary.In your mind, the two options — call them J and P — are so equally and oppositely attractive that you...