Irrational is normal, so why is it phrased as a negative?

✨ Random thought from a word nerd on a Thursday morning...

I wish the polarity of “rational” and “irrational” were flipped, because what we call irrational is actually the normal human approach to things.

“Rational” is an invention — it’s a mode we can switch into, but it’s not where we spend most of our time.

By framing “irrational” as a negative, people think of it as an exception; a problem to be fixed.

In reality, it’s normal. We should be clear about it, and design our systems and our products to acknowledge that.

Like Dan Ariely so famously said: We are predictably irrational.