Freedomain Radio

http://blog.ted.com/2008/08/archive_barry_s.php

Pretty interesting. What do you think? I think he attaches too much of his arguemnt to concepts like "freedom". And he seems to cherrypick economic terms (pareto and opportunity costs) to prove his argument for happiness. If people are happy with few choices, then why do they choose to come to places with many choices?

Very interesting.

I was with him for most of the talk until he got to "policy" and the pareto thing.  It sounded like he was going to show that there are some negatives and those are interesting to look at - knowing more is always helpful.  But he seemed to arrive at the conclusion that less choice is better than what we have today and that some bureaucratic solution is needed.  I don't want policymakers telling me how much choice is enough, much less redistributing income so that "everybody will be happier".  Nobody will ever take risks... but of course that would eliminate a lot of the problems in his mind.

I agree that choice adds some mental anguish, but I don't think it's bad.  It seems like any situation could be managed with RTR and mecosystem concepts.  If you let your doubts have a voice you can address them, or that's what I'm slowly learning...  If the employee says "I'm overwhelmed by all of these investment choices" then the HR person can say "well here's who you can call for help:  1-800-whoever".  If there's only 1 or 3 investment options is the employee really better off?  Perhaps, but choice -- along with honesty and asking for help on the part of the employee -- would be the ideal solution.

Or the guy (of course it's silly) says "I can't stop thinking about all the parking spaces..." could follow up with "I wonder why that's bugging me".  I bet it wouldn't bother him every summer if he dealt with his doubts once or twice.

His solution would increase one type of happiness at the expense of enlightenment.  Plus, who's going to be the Choice Police?  Like that's not going to be an abusive thing?

It reminds me of Cipher (?) in The Matrix, slowly chewing his filet and savoring wine while telling the Agents to put him back into the Matrix.  He says "Ignorance is bliss".

i agree with you worger. although it can be overwhelming at times, having lots of choice is not a bad thing at all.

i myself have been paralysed by this mental anguish of having too many options in the past but im definately glad that i was able to pick a few things out of many that are most important to me to focus my time and energy on. i doubt i will regret having not gone another way later on down the track because i dont feel as though i could be doing something better right now.

he forgot to mention that part of having all this choice includes the choice to simplify ones lifestyle if one chooses. he also forgot to mention that people dont just have to choose one particular career/investment plan/sex partner/salad dressing/etc but can choose however many they can fit into their schedule if they prefer. i think the real frustration comes not at having too much choice but at not having enough time to pursue all the wonderful things this abundant choice allows you to pursue. this is why i cant wait until they invent a cure for sleep.