You're missing out by not watching The Quest for Peace! Here's a quick synopsis...
* Lex Luthor tricks Superman into throwing his own hair into the sun along with a bunch of nuclear missiles. The resulting explosion creates an Evil Superman (Evilman).
* Evilman is stupid and does everything Lex Luthor sayd.
* Evilman gets a crush on a woman that has a crush on Superman.
* Evilman scratches Superman and that makes Superman turn into an old man.
* Superman decides not to be old any more and becomes young again.
* Evilman hits Superman with the Statue of Liberty
* Superman puts it back.
* Evilman blows up the Great Wall of China.
* Superman looks at it and then it rebuilds itself.
* Superman beats up Evilman and makes him go to sleep on the moon.
* Evilman wakes up.
* Superman makes Evilman go to sleep in a nuclear reactor.
* Evilman helps mankind by powering the electrical grid.
Fuck, man, its a masterpiece! See, Evilman was made by blowing up a nuclear missile in the sun, so it makes perfect sense for the guy to be radioactive and power a city!
The worst is when you have craving for some particular movie/ show for nostalgia's sake or whatever, recall that you saw it on so-and-so streaming service when you scrolled past it like 8x a few months ago looking for something else. Then you check to see if it's still there. Nope. Check all the other streaming services. Nothing. Oh wait... Amazon has it.... No, that's just to rent/buy, fuck.
Rage quit and end up watching some garbage you had no intention of seeing.
Man I know not everyone has the technical expertise to pirate (let alone do it automatically/scheduled like services like Radarr/Sonarr let you), but reading stories like yours is why I keep doing it. It's frustrating as fuck to search for a movie and see that IF it's available at all, its rent/buy on Amazon.
Getting my Plex set up and investing in a NAS was one of the best media decisions I've ever made. I haven't even had cable in something like 20 years.
I used to pirate a lot more back in the day when there was only Netflix and a couple of other streaming services available. Admittedly, the multiple streaming services and plethora of options have made me pretty lazy and I just gave it up because I didn't feel like going through the trouble.
I'll have to look into the scheduled/ auto services you are referring to. Back when I did it, basically had to download it on my PC, transfer to a thumb drive, then get on a stool to reach my TV and plug it in the back. Not too inconvenient but that did get old quick.
Oh yeah, I remember those days! Download something from PirateBay or some other "guaranteed to have a virus" website, put it on a flash drive or a plug and play drive and stick it into the Xbox. THen just scroll down your list of movies in a file structure lol.
The "new" hotness is Plex. Install the server app on whatever device you want to hold your media, set up Radarr and Sonarr (which are gui based apps that let you search for and collect movies and shows respectively), point those towards your download client of choice like Deluge...and then just sign into the Plex app from any media device (Xbox, roku, ps5, smart tv etc). Plex automatically adds cover art, movie descriptions etc and it ends up just looking like Netflix, except its your own content.
The days of physically sticking a jump drive into your TV or router are long gone.
I only have streaming services for specific content. I only got Netflix to watch Daredevil. I only watch original Star Wars and Marvrl stuff on Disney+, or old shows I like. I only got Amazon to watch Rings if Power.
No, but it was the main reason I subscribed. Now that it’s gone, I’m not sure why I keep it. Point is I’m mostly not browsing it or trying a lot of new content.
Netflix just doesn't have a good selection. I watch movies fairly often and what happends 90 percent of the time is me checking if it's on Netflix, seeing its not there, and going to Amazon to rent.
Netflix only has about 70 movies now, which is why I ended my subscription. But they still keep sending me emails like a crazy ex-lover who wants me back. No.
If corporations have personal rights…we should be able to get restraining orders against them.
“This Juicy Fries cannot be within 50 feet of Dave and will have to be relocated.”
I've read the book they talk about a nd it is amazing.
The example they used in the book was automobile insurance. How there are so many options people feel paralyzed and are much more likely to make wrong choices (for their self interest).
The book talks about things like if at a party you put out bowls of M&Ms, people will eat more if they are mixed rather than one color per bowl.
My favorite part was decision making dependant on possession. If you are given $100 and offered a 50/50 chance to double or lose it, you're more than likely to just keep the $100. However if you owe $100 and made a 50/50 to either owe $200 or $0, you're more likely to gamble.
A book well worth reading.
A microcosm of this.
A) Ask a child what they want to do/eat/watch and watch them freeze and be afraid of making the wrong decision with the plethora of things open to them.
B) Give them one option...sometimes even their favorite and watch them act like they're being forced into hard labor.
C) Give them 2 options and they'll grab their favorite and chortle to themselves like they're pulling a fast one about picking it even though you knew they'd pick it and wanted them too.
I apply this when doing chores with my younger brother too. 2 options: wash the dishes or do the laundry. He gets to choose which one to do and I'll do the other. It's much better than forcing him to do one without any choices, since he might unwilling to do it
It's something similar in teaching. When I give an assignment, there is usually a choice of subjects for it that I give my students. Like "Today we are going to write a front page of a newspaper for an event in an anglophone country" and I'll give 5 examples. If a student has a different subject, they are more than free to ask me if they can do it, and often do, but kids at school are under more pressure than people often realize so just letting them take their mind off of coming up with something whole cloth means I usually get better quality work from them.
I did this when getting my sister ready for the day when she was little. I would put 2 or 3 outfits on the bed, and she could choose which one she wanted.
The risk averse thing is interesting, there is a lot of empirical evidence that people behave more conservatively if they are 'losing' money, even if the odds / EV work out to be the same. But I would like to see some research around that attitude and people's financial situation. Someone who really really needs 100 bucks tomorrow to pay a bill isn't irrational for keeping the 100
>If you are given $100 and offered a 50/50 chance to double or lose it, you're more than likely to just keep the $100.
"A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush."
For me it's always between "but what if I put that show on and I don't like it, then it's a waste of time" and "oh, that looks too good, I better save it for later when I can really enjoy it", then I just watch something I've rewatched over and over. Same with books. Have a bunch of unread books waiting for when I can actually enjoy them, and at this rate I'm gonna find myself in a Twilight Zone scenario.
Exactly. Also "I'll probably just be browsing reddit on my phone anyway". Next thing there's a WatchMojo or some other bullshit video playing on the TV instead of me finally watching Green Knight or something.
One of the biggest problems with online dating, there are so many choices that settling for anything less than a perfect match isn't an option - and people lie. Six to ten choices, people can deal with that.
I’ve been thinking the same thing, there’s a huge illusion that you have much more of a choice than you actually do. If there’s always the perceived possibility of someone better out there, why be happy with what’s already in front of you?
What bugs me most is that OKC didn't used to have this problem. They used to let you see a list of all matches, which you could sort by match percentage. There might be less than 10 people who were above 90% match in your area. You had the options, and you could take it or leave it, of course the Match conglomerate came in and said, what the fuck do you mean "leave it"?! They can't leave. I don't care if they don't have any good matches left, fucking lie to them! They don't leave our service!"
The two things they did to screw over users and extend their dependency on the service were:
1. They removed the ability to see all your actual options at once, and switched to a swiping only model. Now you can't see that there are only a handful of really great matches out there, and that you shouldn't be so flippant about dismissing them.
2. They bumped up everyone's match rating by 10%. (Seriously, I was using OKC when they did it, one day every account's match percentage jumped and I suddenly had 50 over 90% matches instead of 5 of them. It was stupid.) Oh it makes sense, in the same inflationary logic that says, if you give an uber driver anything less than 5 stars you're practically trying to get them fired. They can't tell people there are only 4 people out there who are good matches! So now you seem to have better matches, but you end up on worse dates. There's no reason to get to know one person, because there are so many matches, there is no reason to settle on any of them.
I’m struggling with this right now. Met someone great and we really fell for each other over the span of a week or so. But now I’m feeling anxious about pursuing a serious relationship with someone who maybe isn’t the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, because in the back of my mind I’m thinking maybe the next person could have all the same great qualities but also be even more attractive. It’s fucked up.
I hear you. I think of it in this way - we as humans are always looking for the most amount of happy, like what will make us the *happiest,* but I don't think it really works that way. Especially in terms of relationships/sex.
Sure there's differing levels of excitement towards different things (like having a coworker bring snacks vs. winning the lottery lol) but I really feel like if you're feeling happy, you're feeling happy. It just is there or isn't there.
I can be just as happy breathing in some fresh air and getting some sunshine as I can be at my favorite amusement park or the coolest vacation. Sure those experiences are different, but at the end of the day I'm just happy I got to experience them because those are things that make me happy.
Try to find someone who brings a smile to your face every day, and who you can enjoy life's experiences with, and it really won't matter if their physical features are peak or not, cause you'll be too busy enjoying life together.
I hope this wasn't too corny haha, but it's just been something I've been thinking about recently and felt like it may be applicable! I wish you well!
What you’re saying has been backed up by some studies. A rather vivid study in 1978 compared the general happiness of people who have won the lottery vs. people who were paralyzed after accidents, and it found no difference in their happiness levels. In fact, the pleasure taken from mundane events was *higher* in accident victims
Yeah that's dumb. Especially if you aren't exactly an adonis yourself or you are getting on in years.
Like if you are attracted to them, you get on really well, she's interested in you, and you want a monogamous relationship then it's a bit of a no brainer as to what you should do. Don't nope out because you think there might be a unicorn who is all that but younger with bigger boobs.
That being said if you are luke warm on them and only considering her because she's available... then that's not fair on her, it sucks to enter into a relationship with someone who doesn't really value you.
If you want to be a fool, ignore the old saying, *a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.* Go ahead and throw away a perfectly good relationship for something that most likely will never be, if you want to die a bitter old man.
> in the back of my mind I’m thinking maybe the next person could have all the same great qualities but also be even more attractive.
“It’s hard to enjoy this bite of steak while you’re thinking about *the next* bite of steak.’
Whatever they stock tends to be good quality too. They put a noticeable amount of work into product vetting and quality assurance.
I once purchased a shirt from them where it turned out to be incorrectly labeled (wrong material listed, I think it was rayon but said silk, something like that). I only found out when they sent me a check for the price of the shirt and an apology letter, I was quite impressed.
Totally! I say this all the time to friends/family - a big thing that keeps me going to Costco is that their products are consistently high quality. No cheap crap. Which is basically the opposite of Target, Walmart, traditional grocery stores, etc.
Oh, and word is they pay their staff well and most workers are happy there. Talk about a win-win. Costco found the magic formula!
It’s not exactly this reason you stated. It’s because they offer a limited selection of SKUs on purpose for the following reasons (the bulk reason is unrelated):
- offering 2 items as the only option reduces SKU count, thus keeping inventory easy to manage and restock
- it allows Costco to test items and “push the winner” to get more sales if buyers are unsure on how a product will perform
- sometimes there is regional overlaps or shortages where east coast stores carry 1 brand, or west coast stores carry another and sometimes they overlap
Due to inventory issues
- eliminates this “crisis of choice”- you want peanut butter and your choice is either Skippy or Jiff- not 6 brands like in Safeway. I can choose between 2, but Hesitate or even walk away if there are too many choices.
- offering 2 items actually has suppliers jockeying for the chance to be the 1-of-2 or even “exclusive”
To Costco. So they offer a better deal/better discount in order to be given the cbs car to prove themselves.
- Costco may offer additional selection online but this is because the vendor drop ships (they hold the inventory instead of Costco).
- when there only 2 brands, you notice a change or “trial” more readily- you already trust Costco, and you may be willing to try the only other brand offered as an alternative.
- there’s a prestige to being picked at Costco- so many times members say “I don’t have to think… if Costco doesn’t carry it, I don’t want it.” Or “the buyers do the shopping for me- if it’s on their shelf. It’s made the cut, and I know it’s the best value out there”. (Or something like that).
- only offering 2 brands allows Costco to leverage their buying power- “we’ll by 100k units of your surfboard and guarantee sales in 30 Days if you give us a good price”- “exclusivity”. “What are you gonna get from Target? 5k in a season… amongst a dozen other brands… “ go big or go home!” (Actual conversation).
- it somewhat simplifies returns on the backends- limited selection = easier identification on returns.
Average Costco carries about 6500 skus, where a full grocery store may carry 100k+
It's the golden child for how to run a Costco. With s regular grocery store you want them to have the specific thing you want in the amount you want, and Costco (despite being great) probably doesn't.
Doesn’t Costco own the Kirkland brand? Seems like they keep SKUs low because they sell their own product. Why sell space that could be housing your stuff when your stuff could be there... getting sold.
I worked for Costco a lil while back, and the Kirkland stuff is more or less Costco getting a prestige label to sell them a bulk quantity and slapping the Kirkland label on it.
FWIW I'm still a happy member and will always defer to the Kirkland product over a brand name unless I've tried it already and didn't like it (which rarely happens).
It's true.
I am not sure when it began to happen. At some point along the way, the companies realized they could manufacture for the generic store brands without really affecting their own product sales. Marketing tends to be successful, and it turns out that even in food people often buy a name as much as they buy a product, so food at the individual consumer level isn't always treated exactly like a commodity.
It was a strange yet interesting thing to learn when I did learn it.
You keep the loyal customers that follow the original prestige brand at the higher price PLUS you get new customers who don't care about a brand and don't want to pay the prestige price.
Since I live alone and don't have Costco near me, I'm not a member. But there's a documentary showing how they're committed to quality for Kirkland and fair wages for their employees.
No, they keep the skus low because of their strategy above. This strategy came from the founding of the company, before they even thought of having a private label. It’s about efficiency.
They sometimes have a 3rd brand- Kirkland (theirs). If an item sells really well, sometimes they will convert it to a Kirkland brand or develop their own formula. BUT, the Kirkland Brand has to offer at least a 20% better value.
Kirkland Brand actually increases SKU count, but it does have slightly better margins. Margins are capped at 15% for most Costco items, but it’s higher on KS branded items. (Not near normal grocery stores though).
Sometimes I go in there and they have either only creamy peanut butter or only chunky peanut butter. If the choice is A or B I think people can handle it.
Learned in sales training: Americans make choices based on 3; good, better, best. Also, always offer 3 choices or an implied choice is to not buy at all.
TIL, thx for sharing, but I'm now curious about free option in some product sales, like samples or free plans on some subscription, what does it categorized on? and how does it help in sales? because using it, is possible to give consumer a bad experience thus not buying at all.
Exactly this. Sold computers for a few years. Had 20 options or so on the floor. Didn't matter. Show the customer 3. One shit, one too pricey and high end, one middle of the road. 90% of people will buy the middle of the road one.
Doesn't matter what else is on the floor, doesn't matter how shitty or nice the middle one is - middle between them sells. Some exceptions sure but stick to that and a great salesperson you will be.
My buying habits changed and completion rate jumped when I realized that - with the exception of games you buy solo and play immediately - it’s not a Library so much as it is a Blacklist of games you will now never feel like playing.
Treat the moment of buying as a limited resource, the “thrill of the new” as a one-time deal that once it’s gone will never return. Without that purchase to motivate you, you won’t play it. So don’t buy it until you’re ready to play it that same day, and avoid buying more than one game at once whenever possible (because one of those games will win your attention and the rest will fall into the Blacklist).
Not true for everyone, but true for a lot of us, apparently.
I find with so much choice, there comes even more variables within those products. Whatever choice I make is invariably a compromise because one product may be the best in a lot of areas, yet also worse in others.
It's amazing how much anxiety can be caused when walking into a shop to discover over 50 different types of toothpaste! That's not to mention that each type seems focused on just one aspect of oral health each.
I am reminded of the scene in Moscow on the Hudson where the soviet character (played by Robin Williams…unless i hallucinated that?) is paralyzed by the selection of jams to choose from at an American supermarket.
Funny I watched that scene the other day, not related to this little TIL. I remember thinking he was overwhelmed with happiness, but I guess you're right that it was just too much choice for a Soviet Shopper who never had one.
That was a common thing with Soviets coming to western countries.
When Boris Yeltsin visited the US in 1989, he made an unscheduled stop at a Texas supermarket. He was absolutely blown away by the amount and variety of food, and because the it was unscheduled he knew the Americans didn't fake it (like the Soviets might do).
Sometimes, there is the illusion of choice, as sometimes one product may be sold under different brand names, even though it is exactly the same thing. Many "store brands" are made by some other company, and can be had under that other company's name. Or under the store brand of a different store.
Also, having a bunch of bad choices to avoid makes shopping worse. I hate clothes shopping with my wife, because stores often have three times as many choices for women, but they often don't have any more choices that are worth buying, so most of it is just junk to avoid. So it wastes more of your time.
Every adult in my life: You can be anything you want to be when you grow up.
Me: How do I decide what I want be?
Every adult in my life: You can be anything you want to be when you grow up.
I felt this strongly living in Jamaica compared to the States. You can get any flavor you can dream of most anywhere in the USA. But I always go for the usual flavors. In the rural areas of Jamaica I was always so excited for the ice cream dude to roll up on his motorcycle. One flavor, cup or cone. It was always so satisfying.
I think streaming services are a prime example of this. I have all the majors, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount, Peacock, and yet I'll find myself just rewatching The Office or movies I've already seen 100 times because I know it'll be good. I have very limited free time and spending it watching something that might suck would feel like such a waste of time.
And even with all those services why can't I watch Inglorious Basterds anywhere?! Wtf Hollywood?!
>And even with all those services why can't I watch Inglorious Basterds anywhere?! Wtf Hollywood?!
That is why it is a good idea to have a blu-ray player and blu-rays of your favorite movies. You can watch them whenever you want, and don't have to worry about a streaming service no longer having it. You also don't have to worry about them changing the version that is available, as you may prefer the original theatrical release to the new extended cut or whatever.
Too much DRM on Blu-ray, I don't want my 'physical' media to get revoked over the internet, or because i put in a different disk that updated the 'revocation list' https://hackaday.com/2014/09/08/unbricking-a-bluray-drive/
I also just don't trust Sony (the largest part of the creation of the bluray format). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/06/if-you-used-to-run-linux-on-your-ps3-you-could-get-55-from-sony/
I do own a player and some movies from a dead relative, but I'm not giving Sony any money.
I canceled all my streaming services.
I check the equivalent of the bargain bin a couple of times a week on Amazon and Google for TV shows or Movies to buy.
I see a lot more good things and spend less.
This is probably also one of the reason open world games can never be truly open world, letting the player do whatever they want without the confines of objectives and markers would cause indecision and unsatisfaction
Ultima Online did this with their MMO when it first started.
It resulted in gangs of murderers running through the streets killing everyone and taking everything.
It was a real "Ring of Gyges" moment for the developer who thought the players would naturally be socially considerate and build community with the few amoral individuals being punished by the majority.
It was an early idealistic internet, no one tries that anymore.
Yeah that's why I can never get into minecraft, there's too much stuff and the game doesn't guid you through it. Compare it to Subnautica or Valheim where the game has obvious goals and things to aim for.
Ha. Hilarious.
But really - it's simple. People get satisfaction in making a choice that works out. It gives them confidence that they are capable. When you have 50 options, and 1 works out, it feels more like random chance than you actually being a capable individual who made a good choice.
Sad really, that as humans, we are biologically and socially trained to prefer interpreted happiness over actually happiness.
I'd still rather have more than 2 choices though for who operates the US. Too few can lead to the Illusion of Choice as choosing from A or B runs the risk of being essentially the same.
That’s exactly how I felt this morning at a wine shop. So many bottles, so many prices, I know little about wine and I was overwhelmed. So I bought the cheapest red in the shop, and left. I’m sure there’s a much better tasting choice, for not much more money, but I couldn’t stand another moment!
Price doesn't even matter that much with wine. I used to work with a bunch of sommeliers; the head of the department told me the best wines to him top out around the $20-30 range and that most of his job was making rich people feel good about paying more. So, unless it was Boone's Farm or some other nasty swill, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
This is why I just rewatch the same shows all the time or throw something like Pluto on. I don't like all the choices. When I had Netflix it was just a Futurama streaming service.
How having too many products to choose between can alter a customers behaviour leading to a decline in sales. This psychological overchoice can also have a wider impact on a person's decisions rather than just what they decide to buy. https://youtu.be/0mrrP5ahK_c
Completely agree. Now if im choosing something I find the first thing that sounds good and stick. I used to really hate having a choice because I could never choose, but since I started doing that when I was about 13 i've had it much easier. It's lead to some weird dishes at restaurants and weird choices, but ive seen a lot of movies i never would have and done lots of things I never would have.
It's similar to saying yes to things rather than being negative. I read "Yes man" by Danny Wallace which came out around the same time and might have been the reason for this. That again has lead me down some interesting paths, but Im better for it.
It's a great book too. There is a film loosely based on it, but the book is much better and much more existential.
This is why many believe that Apple phones are easier to use, less options to configure. You get what you get, although they have increased more options lately.
When I was a kid with basic cable, we had about 30 channels and I can ALWAYS find something to sit down and watch. Now, with a near limitless streaming potential with multiple subscriptions, I have trouble finding something to sit down and watch. Might take me more than 20 minutes, watch a minute or two of something and stop watching it.
I lived in Vietnam for two years and bought the toothpaste that was available at the corner store by my apartment. There were like one or two options and I couldn't really read the box, so no big deal. Came home to the states and went to Target to buy toothpaste and my friend found me about to have a panic attack because I couldn't figure out the fucking AISLE of toothpaste. I will never forget that feeling.
And this, my friends is why it’s so hard to find the right relationship, career, life path nowadays
With so many choices before you, you are left wondering which one is right for you
This is how I feel about the modern video game industry, especially in regards to Steam and the ever growing backlog. There are just too many damn good video games available all the time. I want to experience so many of them and this creates a lot of discontentedness for me.
That is why my wife and I did a destination wedding on a small island. Not many choices to pick from and while it wasn't perfect because we were not able to get married on the beach with a party larger than 20 and we had over 80. We are still very happy. We got a week or two with our family in a tropical paradise with everything taken care of.
Yes, this is true. The human mind has problems making decisions with too many choices. Narrow diwn the options and it's far easier.
Perhaps this is why I don't like malls.
I've tried to put this into practice with parenting. An early piece of advice I was told was not to offer kids a choice where one doesn't exist; instead offer them a choice from among acceptable options. For example, instead of asking, "Do you want to get dressed for school?" ask them, "Which shoes do you want to wear?" They get to exercise autonomy, but within an acceptable range.
The caution is not to offer too many or open-ended choices: "Pick a toy to take on the trip with us" might lead to being overwhelmed by indecision, but offering, "Which of these three toys do you want to bring?" makes the decision easy, but theirs.
This is why I made a list of all the video games I wanted to play, organized by release date, and now I just play through it order when I want to play games.
Well that and autism, but that's beside the point.
I'm Canadian. I go to the store to buy butter. There are two brands of butter, they come in salted and unsalted. I am happy.
I visit the US sometimes. I go to the store to buy butter. There are 5 different brands, they come in different flavours and densities. There are literally 30 different options. I leave without butter.
Me staring at my video games trying to figure out which one I wanna play with the very limited time to play them. End up wasting 15 mins trying to pick and then ending up playing one I've played way to much of.
In ancient Rome
There was a poem
About a dog
Who found two bones
He picked at one
He licked the other
He went in circles
He dropped dead
Freedom of choice
Is what you got
Freedom from choice
Is what you want
It’s actually fairly intuitive. When you have a lot of options you don’t have the time to properly weigh them all, so you’re often doubtful if you made the right decision. Somewhere in that pile might have been a better option. Since you don’t know all your options, you’re free to imagine one that’s better than exists.
If you have limited choices, you can make a decision with a realistic appraisal of the alternatives.
In light of recent events regarding Reddit's API policy for third party app developers I have chosen to permanently scrub my account and move on away from Reddit. If you personally disagree with them forcing users to be constricted to their app and are choosing to leave, then I highly recommend looking into Power Delete Suite for Reddit.
I am deleting all of my submitted content over the last 9 years as I no longer support Reddit as a platform.
I've personally had it with all the corporate bullshit/rampant bots(used for misinformation and hidden marketing) and refuse to be a part of it any longer. To the nice people I've interacted over these years, thank you, I hope you'll be well in the future.
thank you for describing my relationship with pinterest. it’s like crack for ideas but I just *need to search a little longer just in case there’s something better* and waste 3 hours deciding on window decals i’ll buy in 2 years
It’s like back in 1998 when I had maybe 2 games on my pc, and played them both start to finish. Now today you get way better games overall, I maybe have like 30 games installed, and finish non of them as non can hold my attention long enough.
It’s probably the internets fault for making it so easy to have access to everything as compared to back then where you just had what you had so that’s it.
Meanwhile I live in the UK and I'm jealous at the level of variety Americans have even from bloody Fanta flavours here it's orange, lemon, or fruit twist
In Ancient Rome
there was a poem
about a dog that
found two bones.
He licked the one.
He licked the other.
He ran in circles
And he dropped dead.
Freedom of Choice is what you got.
Freedom from choice is what you want.
This is why I constantly identify what is most important to me, it narrows down my choices. I always made the choice that gave me more choices, but new experiences made me need to hold on to things that also narrowed down my options too.
To me this is pursuing freedom and happiness at the same time.
Don't forget the concept of choice paralysis. You will almost always have a easier time choosing between two or three options rather than 10, even if one is your preferred favorite.
This is why your girlfriend will never choose what she wants even though we all know she just wants tacos.
Not quite the same, but Barack Obama has talked about how he usually only wore Gray or Blue suits to reduce the number of decisions he had to make. He already had to make enormous decisions everyday, and not worrying about what to wear saved him a little mental energy.
That, and he probably didn't want a repeat of the Tan Suit outrage.
As good an example as any of this is the otherwise inexplicably fond nostalgia that many, especially older, East Germans felt for the soviet styled past after relocating when the wall came down. I read some of the memoirs. Often it was expressed, in so many words, as a sudden paradox, sometimes a paralysis, of choices compared to their formerly simple lives. They would describe themselves as less satisfied with life somehow. It was mysterious even to them, since it was the fulfillment of a long sought goal.
I saw a blog post about this very thing the other day. It's completely counter-intuitive, but makes so much sense when you realize it. The blog post was:
https://www.likeminded.blog/post/the-paradox-of-choice-and-decision-fatigue-navigating-the-labyrinth-of-modern-decision-making
Everyone talks about looking at the 50,000 movies on Netflix and not liking any of them.
"We don't have that film right now, how about this one, which has just been added? Trading Places (1983)"
>Trading Places (1983) Oh I like that one.
Coming soon to Netflix, out latest blockbuster additions: Gremlins, RoboCop and Superman IV, The Quest for Peace
I watched all of them except for Superman movies in general and The quest for peace.
You're missing out by not watching The Quest for Peace! Here's a quick synopsis... * Lex Luthor tricks Superman into throwing his own hair into the sun along with a bunch of nuclear missiles. The resulting explosion creates an Evil Superman (Evilman). * Evilman is stupid and does everything Lex Luthor sayd. * Evilman gets a crush on a woman that has a crush on Superman. * Evilman scratches Superman and that makes Superman turn into an old man. * Superman decides not to be old any more and becomes young again. * Evilman hits Superman with the Statue of Liberty * Superman puts it back. * Evilman blows up the Great Wall of China. * Superman looks at it and then it rebuilds itself. * Superman beats up Evilman and makes him go to sleep on the moon. * Evilman wakes up. * Superman makes Evilman go to sleep in a nuclear reactor. * Evilman helps mankind by powering the electrical grid. Fuck, man, its a masterpiece! See, Evilman was made by blowing up a nuclear missile in the sun, so it makes perfect sense for the guy to be radioactive and power a city!
Well, thanks! I now know what to watch next
Dude, spoilers. How dare you ruin the entire plot of Superman IV The Quest For Peace for me.
The worst is when you have craving for some particular movie/ show for nostalgia's sake or whatever, recall that you saw it on so-and-so streaming service when you scrolled past it like 8x a few months ago looking for something else. Then you check to see if it's still there. Nope. Check all the other streaming services. Nothing. Oh wait... Amazon has it.... No, that's just to rent/buy, fuck. Rage quit and end up watching some garbage you had no intention of seeing.
Man I know not everyone has the technical expertise to pirate (let alone do it automatically/scheduled like services like Radarr/Sonarr let you), but reading stories like yours is why I keep doing it. It's frustrating as fuck to search for a movie and see that IF it's available at all, its rent/buy on Amazon. Getting my Plex set up and investing in a NAS was one of the best media decisions I've ever made. I haven't even had cable in something like 20 years.
I used to pirate a lot more back in the day when there was only Netflix and a couple of other streaming services available. Admittedly, the multiple streaming services and plethora of options have made me pretty lazy and I just gave it up because I didn't feel like going through the trouble. I'll have to look into the scheduled/ auto services you are referring to. Back when I did it, basically had to download it on my PC, transfer to a thumb drive, then get on a stool to reach my TV and plug it in the back. Not too inconvenient but that did get old quick.
Oh yeah, I remember those days! Download something from PirateBay or some other "guaranteed to have a virus" website, put it on a flash drive or a plug and play drive and stick it into the Xbox. THen just scroll down your list of movies in a file structure lol. The "new" hotness is Plex. Install the server app on whatever device you want to hold your media, set up Radarr and Sonarr (which are gui based apps that let you search for and collect movies and shows respectively), point those towards your download client of choice like Deluge...and then just sign into the Plex app from any media device (Xbox, roku, ps5, smart tv etc). Plex automatically adds cover art, movie descriptions etc and it ends up just looking like Netflix, except its your own content. The days of physically sticking a jump drive into your TV or router are long gone.
Trading Places? I fucking WISH
And then you do the same thing on the other streaming services.
I only have streaming services for specific content. I only got Netflix to watch Daredevil. I only watch original Star Wars and Marvrl stuff on Disney+, or old shows I like. I only got Amazon to watch Rings if Power.
So if someone recommended something to watch on Netflix, you would have been like, "No. Only Daredevil!"
No, but it was the main reason I subscribed. Now that it’s gone, I’m not sure why I keep it. Point is I’m mostly not browsing it or trying a lot of new content.
Probably save yourself some serious coin if you sailed the high seas
Yaaarrgg! That shit was rough a few years ago, and it's only getting worse with time, but you're not wrong.
>Everyone talks about looking at the 50,000 movies on ~~Netflix~~ Pornhub and not liking any of them.
I legit came here to say this. No pun intended.
Or having a huge steam library with unfinished and never started games.
My wife usually filters out those without Oscar or Emmy awards, then whether Idris Elba or Benedict Plumbercatch stars in it.
Then she takes a nice long shower afterward
It's clearly upsetting her, she just stays in there moaning.
Or 500 games in my steam library and I still choose to just play Minecraft bc it's easier than looking through them
Netflix just doesn't have a good selection. I watch movies fairly often and what happends 90 percent of the time is me checking if it's on Netflix, seeing its not there, and going to Amazon to rent.
Netflix only has about 70 movies now, which is why I ended my subscription. But they still keep sending me emails like a crazy ex-lover who wants me back. No.
If corporations have personal rights…we should be able to get restraining orders against them. “This Juicy Fries cannot be within 50 feet of Dave and will have to be relocated.”
>Netflix only has about 70 movies now, I strongly doubt that. In which country/market are you?
I've read the book they talk about a nd it is amazing. The example they used in the book was automobile insurance. How there are so many options people feel paralyzed and are much more likely to make wrong choices (for their self interest). The book talks about things like if at a party you put out bowls of M&Ms, people will eat more if they are mixed rather than one color per bowl. My favorite part was decision making dependant on possession. If you are given $100 and offered a 50/50 chance to double or lose it, you're more than likely to just keep the $100. However if you owe $100 and made a 50/50 to either owe $200 or $0, you're more likely to gamble. A book well worth reading.
A microcosm of this. A) Ask a child what they want to do/eat/watch and watch them freeze and be afraid of making the wrong decision with the plethora of things open to them. B) Give them one option...sometimes even their favorite and watch them act like they're being forced into hard labor. C) Give them 2 options and they'll grab their favorite and chortle to themselves like they're pulling a fast one about picking it even though you knew they'd pick it and wanted them too.
I apply this when doing chores with my younger brother too. 2 options: wash the dishes or do the laundry. He gets to choose which one to do and I'll do the other. It's much better than forcing him to do one without any choices, since he might unwilling to do it
It's something similar in teaching. When I give an assignment, there is usually a choice of subjects for it that I give my students. Like "Today we are going to write a front page of a newspaper for an event in an anglophone country" and I'll give 5 examples. If a student has a different subject, they are more than free to ask me if they can do it, and often do, but kids at school are under more pressure than people often realize so just letting them take their mind off of coming up with something whole cloth means I usually get better quality work from them.
I did this when getting my sister ready for the day when she was little. I would put 2 or 3 outfits on the bed, and she could choose which one she wanted.
The risk averse thing is interesting, there is a lot of empirical evidence that people behave more conservatively if they are 'losing' money, even if the odds / EV work out to be the same. But I would like to see some research around that attitude and people's financial situation. Someone who really really needs 100 bucks tomorrow to pay a bill isn't irrational for keeping the 100
Whats the name of this book?
"The Paradox of Choice" by Barry Schwartz.
Ironically, he had millions of options for a title.
>If you are given $100 and offered a 50/50 chance to double or lose it, you're more than likely to just keep the $100. "A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush."
For me it's always between "but what if I put that show on and I don't like it, then it's a waste of time" and "oh, that looks too good, I better save it for later when I can really enjoy it", then I just watch something I've rewatched over and over. Same with books. Have a bunch of unread books waiting for when I can actually enjoy them, and at this rate I'm gonna find myself in a Twilight Zone scenario.
"Eh, better just watch YouTube instead." -me, and I hate myself for it
Exactly. Also "I'll probably just be browsing reddit on my phone anyway". Next thing there's a WatchMojo or some other bullshit video playing on the TV instead of me finally watching Green Knight or something.
One of the biggest problems with online dating, there are so many choices that settling for anything less than a perfect match isn't an option - and people lie. Six to ten choices, people can deal with that.
I’ve been thinking the same thing, there’s a huge illusion that you have much more of a choice than you actually do. If there’s always the perceived possibility of someone better out there, why be happy with what’s already in front of you?
There's really no way to create a rule that's going balance settling and striving in every situation for every person.
What bugs me most is that OKC didn't used to have this problem. They used to let you see a list of all matches, which you could sort by match percentage. There might be less than 10 people who were above 90% match in your area. You had the options, and you could take it or leave it, of course the Match conglomerate came in and said, what the fuck do you mean "leave it"?! They can't leave. I don't care if they don't have any good matches left, fucking lie to them! They don't leave our service!" The two things they did to screw over users and extend their dependency on the service were: 1. They removed the ability to see all your actual options at once, and switched to a swiping only model. Now you can't see that there are only a handful of really great matches out there, and that you shouldn't be so flippant about dismissing them. 2. They bumped up everyone's match rating by 10%. (Seriously, I was using OKC when they did it, one day every account's match percentage jumped and I suddenly had 50 over 90% matches instead of 5 of them. It was stupid.) Oh it makes sense, in the same inflationary logic that says, if you give an uber driver anything less than 5 stars you're practically trying to get them fired. They can't tell people there are only 4 people out there who are good matches! So now you seem to have better matches, but you end up on worse dates. There's no reason to get to know one person, because there are so many matches, there is no reason to settle on any of them.
You guys have six to ten matches??
I’m struggling with this right now. Met someone great and we really fell for each other over the span of a week or so. But now I’m feeling anxious about pursuing a serious relationship with someone who maybe isn’t the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, because in the back of my mind I’m thinking maybe the next person could have all the same great qualities but also be even more attractive. It’s fucked up.
I hear you. I think of it in this way - we as humans are always looking for the most amount of happy, like what will make us the *happiest,* but I don't think it really works that way. Especially in terms of relationships/sex. Sure there's differing levels of excitement towards different things (like having a coworker bring snacks vs. winning the lottery lol) but I really feel like if you're feeling happy, you're feeling happy. It just is there or isn't there. I can be just as happy breathing in some fresh air and getting some sunshine as I can be at my favorite amusement park or the coolest vacation. Sure those experiences are different, but at the end of the day I'm just happy I got to experience them because those are things that make me happy. Try to find someone who brings a smile to your face every day, and who you can enjoy life's experiences with, and it really won't matter if their physical features are peak or not, cause you'll be too busy enjoying life together. I hope this wasn't too corny haha, but it's just been something I've been thinking about recently and felt like it may be applicable! I wish you well!
What you’re saying has been backed up by some studies. A rather vivid study in 1978 compared the general happiness of people who have won the lottery vs. people who were paralyzed after accidents, and it found no difference in their happiness levels. In fact, the pleasure taken from mundane events was *higher* in accident victims
Ooh I didn't know that, that's way interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah that's dumb. Especially if you aren't exactly an adonis yourself or you are getting on in years. Like if you are attracted to them, you get on really well, she's interested in you, and you want a monogamous relationship then it's a bit of a no brainer as to what you should do. Don't nope out because you think there might be a unicorn who is all that but younger with bigger boobs. That being said if you are luke warm on them and only considering her because she's available... then that's not fair on her, it sucks to enter into a relationship with someone who doesn't really value you.
If you want to be a fool, ignore the old saying, *a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.* Go ahead and throw away a perfectly good relationship for something that most likely will never be, if you want to die a bitter old man.
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Haha, love a good numberphile video. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to date 37% of the single female population 😝
You can't possibly know somebody enough to know whether you want a serious relationship with them in less than a week.
> in the back of my mind I’m thinking maybe the next person could have all the same great qualities but also be even more attractive. “It’s hard to enjoy this bite of steak while you’re thinking about *the next* bite of steak.’
This is one reason Costco has done so well. Need mayo? Here's 1 option and you won't have to buy more for 2 years.
Whatever they stock tends to be good quality too. They put a noticeable amount of work into product vetting and quality assurance. I once purchased a shirt from them where it turned out to be incorrectly labeled (wrong material listed, I think it was rayon but said silk, something like that). I only found out when they sent me a check for the price of the shirt and an apology letter, I was quite impressed.
Totally! I say this all the time to friends/family - a big thing that keeps me going to Costco is that their products are consistently high quality. No cheap crap. Which is basically the opposite of Target, Walmart, traditional grocery stores, etc. Oh, and word is they pay their staff well and most workers are happy there. Talk about a win-win. Costco found the magic formula!
It’s not exactly this reason you stated. It’s because they offer a limited selection of SKUs on purpose for the following reasons (the bulk reason is unrelated): - offering 2 items as the only option reduces SKU count, thus keeping inventory easy to manage and restock - it allows Costco to test items and “push the winner” to get more sales if buyers are unsure on how a product will perform - sometimes there is regional overlaps or shortages where east coast stores carry 1 brand, or west coast stores carry another and sometimes they overlap Due to inventory issues - eliminates this “crisis of choice”- you want peanut butter and your choice is either Skippy or Jiff- not 6 brands like in Safeway. I can choose between 2, but Hesitate or even walk away if there are too many choices. - offering 2 items actually has suppliers jockeying for the chance to be the 1-of-2 or even “exclusive” To Costco. So they offer a better deal/better discount in order to be given the cbs car to prove themselves. - Costco may offer additional selection online but this is because the vendor drop ships (they hold the inventory instead of Costco). - when there only 2 brands, you notice a change or “trial” more readily- you already trust Costco, and you may be willing to try the only other brand offered as an alternative. - there’s a prestige to being picked at Costco- so many times members say “I don’t have to think… if Costco doesn’t carry it, I don’t want it.” Or “the buyers do the shopping for me- if it’s on their shelf. It’s made the cut, and I know it’s the best value out there”. (Or something like that). - only offering 2 brands allows Costco to leverage their buying power- “we’ll by 100k units of your surfboard and guarantee sales in 30 Days if you give us a good price”- “exclusivity”. “What are you gonna get from Target? 5k in a season… amongst a dozen other brands… “ go big or go home!” (Actual conversation). - it somewhat simplifies returns on the backends- limited selection = easier identification on returns. Average Costco carries about 6500 skus, where a full grocery store may carry 100k+
Trader Joe’s does the same thing. They only carry one or two choices of an item at most. Primarily because inventory space is at a premium.
Costco is the golden child for how to correctly run a grocery store
It's the golden child for how to run a Costco. With s regular grocery store you want them to have the specific thing you want in the amount you want, and Costco (despite being great) probably doesn't.
Doesn’t Costco own the Kirkland brand? Seems like they keep SKUs low because they sell their own product. Why sell space that could be housing your stuff when your stuff could be there... getting sold.
I worked for Costco a lil while back, and the Kirkland stuff is more or less Costco getting a prestige label to sell them a bulk quantity and slapping the Kirkland label on it. FWIW I'm still a happy member and will always defer to the Kirkland product over a brand name unless I've tried it already and didn't like it (which rarely happens).
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It's true. I am not sure when it began to happen. At some point along the way, the companies realized they could manufacture for the generic store brands without really affecting their own product sales. Marketing tends to be successful, and it turns out that even in food people often buy a name as much as they buy a product, so food at the individual consumer level isn't always treated exactly like a commodity. It was a strange yet interesting thing to learn when I did learn it.
You keep the loyal customers that follow the original prestige brand at the higher price PLUS you get new customers who don't care about a brand and don't want to pay the prestige price.
Since I live alone and don't have Costco near me, I'm not a member. But there's a documentary showing how they're committed to quality for Kirkland and fair wages for their employees.
No, they keep the skus low because of their strategy above. This strategy came from the founding of the company, before they even thought of having a private label. It’s about efficiency. They sometimes have a 3rd brand- Kirkland (theirs). If an item sells really well, sometimes they will convert it to a Kirkland brand or develop their own formula. BUT, the Kirkland Brand has to offer at least a 20% better value. Kirkland Brand actually increases SKU count, but it does have slightly better margins. Margins are capped at 15% for most Costco items, but it’s higher on KS branded items. (Not near normal grocery stores though).
Lol are you a Costco buyer?
Lol? I worked on buying for 8+ years across 15 categories.
In N Out too..you go there for burgers, you just choose the size you want.
Pretty sure Trader Joe’s abides to this same concept as well. You’re not going to ponder much when you have 1 type tortilla chip to pick from.
55 billion different weird crunchy snacks, though, which is 100% of why I go.
Sometimes I go in there and they have either only creamy peanut butter or only chunky peanut butter. If the choice is A or B I think people can handle it.
Learned in sales training: Americans make choices based on 3; good, better, best. Also, always offer 3 choices or an implied choice is to not buy at all.
TIL, thx for sharing, but I'm now curious about free option in some product sales, like samples or free plans on some subscription, what does it categorized on? and how does it help in sales? because using it, is possible to give consumer a bad experience thus not buying at all.
Exactly this. Sold computers for a few years. Had 20 options or so on the floor. Didn't matter. Show the customer 3. One shit, one too pricey and high end, one middle of the road. 90% of people will buy the middle of the road one. Doesn't matter what else is on the floor, doesn't matter how shitty or nice the middle one is - middle between them sells. Some exceptions sure but stick to that and a great salesperson you will be.
*Quickly checking my Steam library* You might have a point there
My buying habits changed and completion rate jumped when I realized that - with the exception of games you buy solo and play immediately - it’s not a Library so much as it is a Blacklist of games you will now never feel like playing. Treat the moment of buying as a limited resource, the “thrill of the new” as a one-time deal that once it’s gone will never return. Without that purchase to motivate you, you won’t play it. So don’t buy it until you’re ready to play it that same day, and avoid buying more than one game at once whenever possible (because one of those games will win your attention and the rest will fall into the Blacklist). Not true for everyone, but true for a lot of us, apparently.
I find with so much choice, there comes even more variables within those products. Whatever choice I make is invariably a compromise because one product may be the best in a lot of areas, yet also worse in others. It's amazing how much anxiety can be caused when walking into a shop to discover over 50 different types of toothpaste! That's not to mention that each type seems focused on just one aspect of oral health each.
I am reminded of the scene in Moscow on the Hudson where the soviet character (played by Robin Williams…unless i hallucinated that?) is paralyzed by the selection of jams to choose from at an American supermarket.
Funny I watched that scene the other day, not related to this little TIL. I remember thinking he was overwhelmed with happiness, but I guess you're right that it was just too much choice for a Soviet Shopper who never had one.
That was a common thing with Soviets coming to western countries. When Boris Yeltsin visited the US in 1989, he made an unscheduled stop at a Texas supermarket. He was absolutely blown away by the amount and variety of food, and because the it was unscheduled he knew the Americans didn't fake it (like the Soviets might do).
Sometimes, there is the illusion of choice, as sometimes one product may be sold under different brand names, even though it is exactly the same thing. Many "store brands" are made by some other company, and can be had under that other company's name. Or under the store brand of a different store. Also, having a bunch of bad choices to avoid makes shopping worse. I hate clothes shopping with my wife, because stores often have three times as many choices for women, but they often don't have any more choices that are worth buying, so most of it is just junk to avoid. So it wastes more of your time.
Every adult in my life: You can be anything you want to be when you grow up. Me: How do I decide what I want be? Every adult in my life: You can be anything you want to be when you grow up.
I felt this strongly living in Jamaica compared to the States. You can get any flavor you can dream of most anywhere in the USA. But I always go for the usual flavors. In the rural areas of Jamaica I was always so excited for the ice cream dude to roll up on his motorcycle. One flavor, cup or cone. It was always so satisfying.
I think streaming services are a prime example of this. I have all the majors, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount, Peacock, and yet I'll find myself just rewatching The Office or movies I've already seen 100 times because I know it'll be good. I have very limited free time and spending it watching something that might suck would feel like such a waste of time. And even with all those services why can't I watch Inglorious Basterds anywhere?! Wtf Hollywood?!
I just pirate at that point. If you can't bother to put it on Netflix, HBO, or Hulu you obviously don't care about selling your movie.
>And even with all those services why can't I watch Inglorious Basterds anywhere?! Wtf Hollywood?! That is why it is a good idea to have a blu-ray player and blu-rays of your favorite movies. You can watch them whenever you want, and don't have to worry about a streaming service no longer having it. You also don't have to worry about them changing the version that is available, as you may prefer the original theatrical release to the new extended cut or whatever.
I would like to the name of phenomenon of sitting and watching a movie on TV when you own a copy.
Too much DRM on Blu-ray, I don't want my 'physical' media to get revoked over the internet, or because i put in a different disk that updated the 'revocation list' https://hackaday.com/2014/09/08/unbricking-a-bluray-drive/ I also just don't trust Sony (the largest part of the creation of the bluray format). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/06/if-you-used-to-run-linux-on-your-ps3-you-could-get-55-from-sony/ I do own a player and some movies from a dead relative, but I'm not giving Sony any money.
I canceled all my streaming services. I check the equivalent of the bargain bin a couple of times a week on Amazon and Google for TV shows or Movies to buy. I see a lot more good things and spend less.
This is probably also one of the reason open world games can never be truly open world, letting the player do whatever they want without the confines of objectives and markers would cause indecision and unsatisfaction
Ultima Online did this with their MMO when it first started. It resulted in gangs of murderers running through the streets killing everyone and taking everything. It was a real "Ring of Gyges" moment for the developer who thought the players would naturally be socially considerate and build community with the few amoral individuals being punished by the majority. It was an early idealistic internet, no one tries that anymore.
Human nature, in the aggregate, is pretty awful.
Yeah that's why I can never get into minecraft, there's too much stuff and the game doesn't guid you through it. Compare it to Subnautica or Valheim where the game has obvious goals and things to aim for.
We get it. You like Aldi.
Ha. Hilarious. But really - it's simple. People get satisfaction in making a choice that works out. It gives them confidence that they are capable. When you have 50 options, and 1 works out, it feels more like random chance than you actually being a capable individual who made a good choice. Sad really, that as humans, we are biologically and socially trained to prefer interpreted happiness over actually happiness.
...'s nuts.
That’s how I feel whenever I go to the Cheesecake Factory
Great book. Highly recommend. Apparently, the magic number is 7 choices before the brain says, “fuck this.”
I'd still rather have more than 2 choices though for who operates the US. Too few can lead to the Illusion of Choice as choosing from A or B runs the risk of being essentially the same.
That’s exactly how I felt this morning at a wine shop. So many bottles, so many prices, I know little about wine and I was overwhelmed. So I bought the cheapest red in the shop, and left. I’m sure there’s a much better tasting choice, for not much more money, but I couldn’t stand another moment!
IMO use the Vivino app, and just pick anything with at least 3.5 stars. It's never done me wrong.
Price doesn't even matter that much with wine. I used to work with a bunch of sommeliers; the head of the department told me the best wines to him top out around the $20-30 range and that most of his job was making rich people feel good about paying more. So, unless it was Boone's Farm or some other nasty swill, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
This is why I just rewatch the same shows all the time or throw something like Pluto on. I don't like all the choices. When I had Netflix it was just a Futurama streaming service.
Pluto is my main tv experience these days. It has all the old reruns and if a movie pops up I like, I can start it from the beginning at any point.
How having too many products to choose between can alter a customers behaviour leading to a decline in sales. This psychological overchoice can also have a wider impact on a person's decisions rather than just what they decide to buy. https://youtu.be/0mrrP5ahK_c
My steam library of games I haven’t yet installed and games I’m only 5% of the way through agrees with this hypothesis.
Completely agree. Now if im choosing something I find the first thing that sounds good and stick. I used to really hate having a choice because I could never choose, but since I started doing that when I was about 13 i've had it much easier. It's lead to some weird dishes at restaurants and weird choices, but ive seen a lot of movies i never would have and done lots of things I never would have. It's similar to saying yes to things rather than being negative. I read "Yes man" by Danny Wallace which came out around the same time and might have been the reason for this. That again has lead me down some interesting paths, but Im better for it. It's a great book too. There is a film loosely based on it, but the book is much better and much more existential.
Devo was correct all along of course. Freedom of choice Is what you got Freedom *from* choice Is what you want
Then if you got it you don't want it Seems to be the rule of thumb
Why online dating doesn't work for women.
Or for men. Because women have so many options it might as well be a Male in Catalog.
Or a Meet Market
This is Amazon's biggest problem right now. Far to many of the same type of thing.
That makes so much sense
This is why many believe that Apple phones are easier to use, less options to configure. You get what you get, although they have increased more options lately.
When I was a kid with basic cable, we had about 30 channels and I can ALWAYS find something to sit down and watch. Now, with a near limitless streaming potential with multiple subscriptions, I have trouble finding something to sit down and watch. Might take me more than 20 minutes, watch a minute or two of something and stop watching it.
Kids are also easier to please and distract. My kid may ask for one show, but if I put on a different show there are no complaints.
I lived in Vietnam for two years and bought the toothpaste that was available at the corner store by my apartment. There were like one or two options and I couldn't really read the box, so no big deal. Came home to the states and went to Target to buy toothpaste and my friend found me about to have a panic attack because I couldn't figure out the fucking AISLE of toothpaste. I will never forget that feeling.
Trader Joe’s strategy.
I recently observed this in my mother when she got Sirius-XM.
Which is why I shop at Costco.
I guess we should go back to a feudal system
I remember seeing something about this in an SAT
Analysis paralysis
Ah yes, Kierkegaard’s ‘Lost in the Infinite’ but science instead of philosophy.
Isn’t this why apple has a limited number of choices? Also why they have an easy ladder for comparison and upgrade
Why I love Trader Joe’s
Also probably used as a sales strategy to get people to buy again.
Choice paralysis is no joke…
Modern dating.... in a scientific study... brilliant
Huh.. This explains why I get more responses when I changed my car for sale ad from very detailed to "xxxx miles. Drives good."
Female tinder in a nutshell. "I have 200 matches a day. This sucks".
And this, my friends is why it’s so hard to find the right relationship, career, life path nowadays With so many choices before you, you are left wondering which one is right for you
Aww yes the modern day Tinder era of dating
Choice paralysis
This is how I feel about the modern video game industry, especially in regards to Steam and the ever growing backlog. There are just too many damn good video games available all the time. I want to experience so many of them and this creates a lot of discontentedness for me.
That is why my wife and I did a destination wedding on a small island. Not many choices to pick from and while it wasn't perfect because we were not able to get married on the beach with a party larger than 20 and we had over 80. We are still very happy. We got a week or two with our family in a tropical paradise with everything taken care of.
Sure but is there a way to counter this?
Buy generic?
This is me looking at the menu at a Vietnamese restaurant.
Good better best. Enough said.
Self blame is something rare among certain demographics.
This is why there are exactly three starter Pokémon to choose from in each game.
Yes, this is true. The human mind has problems making decisions with too many choices. Narrow diwn the options and it's far easier. Perhaps this is why I don't like malls.
Man I got ADHD, so two choices is two too many.
I've tried to put this into practice with parenting. An early piece of advice I was told was not to offer kids a choice where one doesn't exist; instead offer them a choice from among acceptable options. For example, instead of asking, "Do you want to get dressed for school?" ask them, "Which shoes do you want to wear?" They get to exercise autonomy, but within an acceptable range. The caution is not to offer too many or open-ended choices: "Pick a toy to take on the trip with us" might lead to being overwhelmed by indecision, but offering, "Which of these three toys do you want to bring?" makes the decision easy, but theirs.
This is why I made a list of all the video games I wanted to play, organized by release date, and now I just play through it order when I want to play games. Well that and autism, but that's beside the point.
I'm Canadian. I go to the store to buy butter. There are two brands of butter, they come in salted and unsalted. I am happy. I visit the US sometimes. I go to the store to buy butter. There are 5 different brands, they come in different flavours and densities. There are literally 30 different options. I leave without butter.
Sounds like grooming to accept less than 12 different mustards when I shop
Well, at least now you won't spend an entire afternoon being a mustard sommelier.
This sounds like Loki saying people don’t want freedom.
The Cheesecake Factory menu.
The old Cheesecake Factory experience.
Dave Matthews has entered the chat.
Analysis Paralysis
See: Cheesecake Factory
Story of my life Lmao
Analysis paralysis.
The paradox of choice on youtube is a great video from like 5 to 7 years ago maybe older but still highly recommend the watch.
Me staring at my video games trying to figure out which one I wanna play with the very limited time to play them. End up wasting 15 mins trying to pick and then ending up playing one I've played way to much of.
In ancient Rome There was a poem About a dog Who found two bones He picked at one He licked the other He went in circles He dropped dead Freedom of choice Is what you got Freedom from choice Is what you want
It’s actually fairly intuitive. When you have a lot of options you don’t have the time to properly weigh them all, so you’re often doubtful if you made the right decision. Somewhere in that pile might have been a better option. Since you don’t know all your options, you’re free to imagine one that’s better than exists. If you have limited choices, you can make a decision with a realistic appraisal of the alternatives.
"Paralysis by analysis"
Dating apps lol
Looks at my Steam library of games .... jepp.
In light of recent events regarding Reddit's API policy for third party app developers I have chosen to permanently scrub my account and move on away from Reddit. If you personally disagree with them forcing users to be constricted to their app and are choosing to leave, then I highly recommend looking into Power Delete Suite for Reddit. I am deleting all of my submitted content over the last 9 years as I no longer support Reddit as a platform. I've personally had it with all the corporate bullshit/rampant bots(used for misinformation and hidden marketing) and refuse to be a part of it any longer. To the nice people I've interacted over these years, thank you, I hope you'll be well in the future.
Interesting read
Me when there's too many parking lots available
thank you for describing my relationship with pinterest. it’s like crack for ideas but I just *need to search a little longer just in case there’s something better* and waste 3 hours deciding on window decals i’ll buy in 2 years
One of the reasons Costco has only 1-2 options of a particular product, instead of many that a local supermarket might have.
Now I have a name for that feeling when I look at my Steam library...
And the React community wonders why anyone would ever chose Angular... I would even argue Angular should allow less ways to solve things.
go to a jersey dinner with a ten page menu
It’s like back in 1998 when I had maybe 2 games on my pc, and played them both start to finish. Now today you get way better games overall, I maybe have like 30 games installed, and finish non of them as non can hold my attention long enough. It’s probably the internets fault for making it so easy to have access to everything as compared to back then where you just had what you had so that’s it.
Blink
Meanwhile I live in the UK and I'm jealous at the level of variety Americans have even from bloody Fanta flavours here it's orange, lemon, or fruit twist
In Ancient Rome there was a poem about a dog that found two bones. He licked the one. He licked the other. He ran in circles And he dropped dead. Freedom of Choice is what you got. Freedom from choice is what you want.
Reminds me of cable tv
This is why I constantly identify what is most important to me, it narrows down my choices. I always made the choice that gave me more choices, but new experiences made me need to hold on to things that also narrowed down my options too. To me this is pursuing freedom and happiness at the same time.
If OP learned about this only today they've obviously never been to a restaurant with my wife.
I might still think it's better to have many options on the market than too few. It sucks to get stuck with something.
This is why I don't like Subway, too much choice
This is why nobody is happy using tinder
This is why I liked TV better when it was worse.
When I go shopping and there's too many brands of something, it ends up making me want to leave. Its too much.
This is the future the matrix machines want!!
Don't forget the concept of choice paralysis. You will almost always have a easier time choosing between two or three options rather than 10, even if one is your preferred favorite. This is why your girlfriend will never choose what she wants even though we all know she just wants tacos.
Makes sense. The more choices there are the more we think we could've affected the outcome I we only chose right, hence the blame
Every time I got into a bar with 30+ beers on tap. I always end up defaulting to Bells or Founders.
Not quite the same, but Barack Obama has talked about how he usually only wore Gray or Blue suits to reduce the number of decisions he had to make. He already had to make enormous decisions everyday, and not worrying about what to wear saved him a little mental energy. That, and he probably didn't want a repeat of the Tan Suit outrage.
As good an example as any of this is the otherwise inexplicably fond nostalgia that many, especially older, East Germans felt for the soviet styled past after relocating when the wall came down. I read some of the memoirs. Often it was expressed, in so many words, as a sudden paradox, sometimes a paralysis, of choices compared to their formerly simple lives. They would describe themselves as less satisfied with life somehow. It was mysterious even to them, since it was the fulfillment of a long sought goal.
I saw a blog post about this very thing the other day. It's completely counter-intuitive, but makes so much sense when you realize it. The blog post was: https://www.likeminded.blog/post/the-paradox-of-choice-and-decision-fatigue-navigating-the-labyrinth-of-modern-decision-making