"Rightness: Long ago, a brilliant psychologist proved that if you present a rat with 3 tunnels, only one of which has some cheese in it, the rat would explore all the avenues until he finds the cheese. And, after reinforcement, he will ignore all non-cheese tunnels, and go down only the one with the payoff. Then, if you take away the cheese, he will soon learn that it’s gone, and will begin to explore all tunnels again, looking for the reward. Human beings, in stark contrast, will go up a tunnel looking for whatever 'cheese' the situation is, never get any, but they proceed to go up that same tunnel for a lifetime. And what’s driving them is reasonableness, or rightness. That is, they get to say to themselves, quite logically: 'I saw cheese go up that tunnel. It’s got to be up there. I’ll find it, goddam it, if it takes me a lifetime.' So they get to spend a lifetime without cheese, but always being able to explain (to wives, friends, acquaintances—anyone who will listen) that they’re up a very reasonable tunnel. And they find people to agree that the cheese really belongs up that tunnel. (Those people are called really close friends!) If you’re running your life up a tunnel (or a series of them) with no 'cheese' for you; you’re beginning to get what I’m driving at: that running your life being right is pointless and I don't mean that what you’re doing is wrong; I simply mean it doesn't work, and that should be the main criterion." ~ From EST: Playing The Game The New Way written by Carl Frederick in 1972 ~