I started to read as obsessively about Star Wars as I once did about Kant - and still do about behavioral economics and behavioral psychology. Cass Sunstein More Quotes by Cass Sunstein More Quotes From Cass Sunstein A lot of people are focused on climate change as a defining challenge of our time. A lot of people think it is a non-problem, at least in the United States. Cass Sunstein challenges people thinking How do things, whether they are movies, or plays, Hamilton, or people, ideas - how do they become transformative or iconic? That is in some ways what the actual Star Wars saga gets at, with the tale of the rise and the fall of the empire and the rise and the fall of Republics. Cass Sunstein stars war fall On reflection, some things do super well because they hit with the time. Some things do super well because they are able to activate a kind of echo chamber or bandwagon or cascade - they didn't particularly hit with the time. Some things are just too astonishingly good to not hit the top. Those three explanations, with respect to the Star Wars phenomenon, seem to me all to pass the plausibility test, and to explore them, with respect to Star Wars, I think casts light not just on the saga of our time, but also on everything about our culture. Cass Sunstein stars war thinking It's very common to say that Star Wars in the late '70s, that was kind of perfect for Cold War culture and the aftermath of Vietnam in the '60s to have an upbeat, hopeful, cartoonish tale of a hero's journey. I think those explanations are easy to offer and almost always wrong. Cass Sunstein stars hero war If you take anything that succeeded, just imagine it succeeding 10 years before or 10 years after, you could almost always make, with the same plausibility, the "it fit the times" argument. Cass Sunstein argument succeed years If Star Wars had been released in the late '60s, or late '80s, or late '90s, adjusting for technology, it fits spectacularly well. Cass Sunstein technology stars war We often see a temper of the times connection, and it's just like a fairy tale. It's not true. Cass Sunstein tales fairy-tale connections The sky is always falling or the sky is always bright. In some ways, this is really morning in America and we don't see it. People are living longer, the economy is doing pretty well. On the other hand, there are some ways of thinking in the current situation that make it look not so good, including our Star Wars prequels - like legislature, meaning they're talking a lot, not doing a lot. Cass Sunstein stars morning war Some of the Hulk movies have been merely okay. I think the thing to do... there has to be some stab that makes it something we haven't seen before. Cass Sunstein things-to-do okay thinking I talked to George Lucas once, not about Star Wars. Everyone wants to talk to him about Star Wars, and I didn't want to be one of those people. In person - at least on this occasion - he wasn't effervescent and giddy, as the Star Wars movies are. He's more focused. Cass Sunstein giddy war people Well, I've liked Star Wars since the late '70s. I liked it a lot. Cass Sunstein late stars war Those who believe in climate change, as I do, I think it's also fair to say that they are more receptive to confirming evidence than disconfirming evidence. They happen to be right, but their motivations are in play also. Cass Sunstein motivation believe thinking And so it's no surprise that people who object to the death penalty on pure moral grounds also think it has no deterrent effect, and people who like the death penalty on grounds of retribution tend to think it has deterrent effects. They like that, and they believe that. I think with climate change we're seeing very much the same thing where those who deny climate change, they don't like that, and they don't believe it. Cass Sunstein believe people thinking My own view is that institutions are a glory, and for all their imperfections, something really to be proud of. It is true that things can be a lot better than they are. It's okay to emphasize that. Cass Sunstein imperfection proud views I have talked to Barack Obama about Star Wars recently, in the Oval Office, and he is definitely a fan. Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution creates executive privilege, and as for government regulation and information policy, so too for Star Wars, I will not disclose discussions in private with the President of the United States. Cass Sunstein office president war So, I subscribe to the following reading: Star Wars is an essentially Christian tale. Cass Sunstein stars christian war I got into the genesis of Star Wars, and the tale seemed to me endlessly fascinating. Cass Sunstein tales stars war There are bursts of things like Abraham Lincoln or Ronald Reagan or Franklin Delano Roosevelt or same-sex marriage that change very much what we thought we were all about. Cass Sunstein franklin-delano-roosevelt franklin sex Faust seems to have exerted a big influence on Star Wars. You know, the "give up your soul for immortality" or something. Cass Sunstein giving-up stars war The fear of loss is an engine of horrors, but also a source of the greatest forms of heroism. There's not a lot of art that puts that in bold letters. It's psychologically very interesting and acute, I think. That's not the central reading, I think, of the New Testament. Cass Sunstein reading loss art
