Herbert A. Simon
We satisfice under limits rather than optimize.
American polymath in psychology, economics and AI, known for bounded rationality and problem-solving research.
Human decision-makers satisfice under limits rather than optimize perfectly.
Who they were
Herbert Simon replaced the perfectly rational decision-maker with a realistic one. Bound by limited time, information and attention, people do not optimize — they look for an option that is good enough. His ideas reshaped economics, psychology and the founding of artificial intelligence.
Famous books
What they left on the shelf
Terms they cared about
Ideas worth knowing
Their techniques
How the work was done
Best known as a theorist — their ideas shaped the techniques of those who followed.
Their big idea
Bounded Rationality
Herbert Simon argued that human rationality is bounded by limited information, time and cognitive capacity, so people satisfice — choosing an option that is good enough — and search a problem space using heuristics rather than computing the optimum.
Questions in their spirit
What they’d ask you
Sit with one. Answer online, or in the app.
Carry the idea forward
Simon — What they’d ask you
Psipas asks you one small, honest question at a time — and builds the picture from your answers.