If you prefer apples to plums, and plums to pears, then given the choice between apples and pears you will obviously pick apples. Or will you? In reality, people fail to show such logical behaviour. This kind of inconsistency, known as intransitivity, has been a headache for mathematicians trying to understand decision-making. But their mistake may have been to think of the human brain as a computer rather than a biological entity that must solve the problem of how to compare apples, pears and plums.
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