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Stay Curious.
Make the most of your college experience.
Jeff Hulett
Curator, The Curiosity Vine
Stay Curious.
The Curiosity Vine is an idea incubator.
Our contributors have experience and interest in a variety of high-impact topics, such as science, technology, conservation, mathematics, data science, public policy, economics, and others. Our objective is to promote early-stage ideas, enable idea collaboration, and test idea purchase.
TCV platform is curated by Jeff Hulett.
Join our team - become a TCV contributor!
Learn about why you should join The Curiosity Vine.
TCV's ideas are used to provide seminars, write books, build businesses, and especially to help people.
So take a look around the site, feel free to ask or answer your own questions, and enjoy your own curiosity exploration!
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Featured Posts
The Intentional Gardener: Helping Your Children Navigate the Hidden Laws of Behavioral Genetics
Parenting often feels overwhelming. We want the best for our children, yet we constantly worry about the uncertainties of a complex world. Self-doubt often creeps in as we wonder if our choices provide enough of a foundation for their future. As a behavioral economist, I often tell my students and clients life resembles a game of poker more than a game of chess. Chess displays every piece and every move clearly. Poker—and life—deals a hand you did not choose, requiring high-s
The Architecture of Agency: How Evolution Uses Information to Override Physics
What if everything you've ever chosen—your job, your relationships, your values—was never really your choice? Neuroscientists and philosophers increasingly argue that free will is an illusion—your decisions pre-programmed by genetics, childhood, and context. Yet our lived experience insists otherwise. We feel we choose, and society expects us to act accordingly. So which is it? Do we truly have agency—or are we just playing out a script? This article suggests we are asking t
America's Mega Forces - Making the most in a time of change
In recent years, the United States has seen a significant intensification of immigration enforcement. According to data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There are a couple mega forces uniquely playing out in the United States. What are they and how do we adapt?
Do I need to be a data scientist in an AI-enabled world?
So, the short answer to the headline question is no, absolutely not...
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The Intentional Gardener: Helping Your Children Navigate the Hidden Laws of Behavioral Genetics
Parenting often feels overwhelming. We want the best for our children, yet we constantly worry about the uncertainties of a complex world. Self-doubt often creeps in as we wonder if our choices provide enough of a foundation for their future. As a behavioral economist, I often tell my students and clients life resembles a game of poker more than a game of chess. Chess displays every piece and every move clearly. Poker—and life—deals a hand you did not choose, requiring high-s
Jeff Hulett
11 hours ago7 min read
From Moral Philosophy to Choice Architecture: Closing the 'Unseen' Gap in Adam Smith's System
Adam Smith’s enduring legacy rests on two pillars: the moral philosophy detailed in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) and the economic framework of The Wealth of Nations (WN) . For decades, the intellectual divide between these works—dubbed the "Adam Smith Problem"—obscured a critical truth: the two books form a single, cohesive system. The key to unification lies in Smith’s four sources of moral approval from TMS. The first three sources (motives, consequences, and gener
Jeff Hulett
Dec 16, 20257 min read
The Mechanics of Emergence: Signal Integration in Neurons
What does Neuroscience have to do with Personal Finance? Everything! My journey into personal finance has led me to a crucial realization: the vast majority of our challenge to achieve long-term wealth begins not in spreadsheets or investment accounts, but within our own minds. The reasons we are either successful or fail are often rooted in the deep mechanics of how our brain operates and how that operation ultimately presents in our personal finance decision-making. This a
Jeff Hulett
Dec 15, 20257 min read
De-Moral Hazarding: The Strategic Use of Commitment Devices to Achieve Moral Benefit
I. Introduction: The Asymmetry of Risk and Incentive Distortion Despite the substantial welfare gains provided by risk-transfer mechanisms, the phenomenon of Moral Hazard (MH) represents a persistent challenge, contributing to systemic inefficiency and escalating costs. MH fundamentally describes the incentive distortion created when agents are insulated from the full financial consequences of their actions. Drawing from a long-established definition, Moral Hazard is understo
Jeff Hulett
Dec 10, 20258 min read
The Rewired Life: Seeking Better, Not Just More
Seeking is profoundly natural. In fact, it is a drive wired deep into our brains, a crucial part of our evolutionary biology. In many ways, seeking is why we exist today—it is the fuel for growth, discovery, and survival. So, this article is not about stopping that powerful, innate force; it's about channeling it. Are we seeking the wrong things? In a world saturated with curated lifestyles, comparison-driven ambition, and endless information, the impulse to achieve more is
Jeff Hulett
Nov 5, 202516 min read
The Tyranny of the Average: Incentives, Interdependence, and the Failure of the Bell Curve
-- The "Normal" Fallacy: Why the Bell Curve is an Abnormal Distribution. The bell-shaped curve, or Normal distribution, is arguably the most recognizable image in statistics. Its mathematical ubiquity has led many to believe it is the default, or "normal," state of nature. However, when we apply this distribution to the complex, interdependent realm of human affairs—from wealth and social media engagement to market returns and social influence—the Normal distribution proves
Jeff Hulett
Oct 9, 202510 min read
Racism Rewired: How Neuroscience and Economics Expose a Broken Logic
A simple image, a profound implication. First, extend your two hands in front of your face and make fists. Hold them together, thumbs...
Jeff Hulett
Oct 6, 20257 min read
When Maps Melt: The Limits of Knowledge in Decision-Making
At Personal Finance Reimagined (PFR) we often remind students and entrepreneurs of an essential point: Good decisions depend on clear thinking, yet one recurring confusion is between probability and frequency. The error arises because historical frequencies—what has happened—are often incorrectly treated as certain probabilities for the future. As the physicist E.T. Jaynes suggested, frequency is merely an observation of the past terrain, while probability is the map we use
Jeff Hulett
Oct 1, 202511 min read
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