The paradox of choice | Barry Schwartz | TED

Indont think for a moment his clothes are incidental. He has chosen to look like a disheveled professor who is down with the kids. This is deliberate and considered.

Online dating

The grocery store choices seem dubious. 175 salad dressings? Seems unlikely.
My cell phone makes and receives calls and texts. It is not connected to the web and has no other functions.

One of the most insightful talks I ever heard.

The ability to choice is always harder than not to, because when you choose something you automatically taking part in a initiative and taking at least a piece of responsibility, if not the biggest part of it (depends on your position). But that's what grown up people do. This is maturity. If you never make any choice, you will always remain an infantile child in your life, avoiding responsibility. And there are entire nations like that, just take a look on authoritarian states. I beg to differ that anyone in Western society would prefer this over your ability to influence your own future.

Why should we create a kind of "aquarium" in our lives? what are the benefits of this?

First, I don't see free countries are suffering from lack of innovation compared to countries without freedom. Free countries come up with more and better ideas, and we do it while deciding which stereo system and salad dressing we want.
Second, there is a huge chance that we are making new things faster than we can make good decisions about them. Internet communication, space faring billionaires,

I’m here in 2023 and this is still so true and relatable.

The secret to happiness is… 🔥

yuh

This content is noteworthy. I read a similar book that left an indelible mark on me. "The Art of Saying No: Mastering Boundaries for a Fulfilling Life" by Samuel Dawn

This happens to me when I have to choose my next course or book for studying. I have every resource in the world at my fingertip because of private trackers, but I always start one, complete it 5-10% and move on to the next because I convince myself I should be studying some other thing, or start another course. I am currently trying to be aware of the paradox of choice and only focus on one thing at a time no matter how hard I have to push through it. Let's see how successful I am, I just picked a book, I am not quitting until I reach the end!!

Barry is impressive. Hes not concerned with the external. Narcissistic ideals. Thats impressive. I admire this.
This definately applies to online dating which marginalizes people and reduces them to commodities.
Success is over valued. And good character is undervalued.

The fact that gen z's dress like this

❤

I think Barry has a point, but I think he's wrong about a few key aspects of this. Take the example of patients being able to choose which treatment option they want to use: let's say one option is unproven, and will be very time-intensive and hard, but has a chance of curing the patient, while the second option is well-reputed, safe and effective, but will need to be a long term treatment, not a cure. The doctor shouldn't decide which the patient should do, because it ultimately comes down to what the patient values more: the possibility of a cure or the ease and continuation with normal life from the treatment. That is something that doesn't depend on expertise, it just depends on preference, and any decision a doctor makes for the patient is not guaranteed to be in their best interest. You are advocating delegating authority to traditional sources of it, even in cases where there is no good reason to do so.

Also, with the point about marriage, there is a type of nostalgia that I don't think it rooted in fact. There was a time when not even who you married was up to you, and in some places that still is the case, especially if you're a woman and not a man, and the result is that people end up in very bad situations which they have no control over.

Having choice is scary, and making good decisions is hard, and in certain cases it does make sense to delegate decision making to more knowledgeable people, or to limit people's freedom to protect the freedom of others (e.g. limiting the freedom of movement of people who will harm others thereby infringing upon their freedom). But for most things, I think choice is a difficult thing, but in my opinion a very worthwhile thing, and imposing arbitrary limits is not just or optimal.

DATING APPS

Vim pelo desafio da Unilever, em que estou participando de um processo seletivo para vaga de estágio... Conteúdo riquíssimo em reflexão e debate! Amazing!!

Speaker: starts off taking about how bad freedom is, Me: this guy sounds like a socialist, Speaker near the end: Advocates for the redistribution of wealth, Me: there it is

please "like" this comment so I remember to see this again!

The singularity sounds like it's going to be pretty terrible to go through, really......

Socialist redistribution is the answer. Right. No thanks.

made 16 yrs back still makes an impact till date thanks for ted

And we wonder why young people are nervous wrecks.

Choice is an illusion, created between those with power, and those without.

Society back in the day: creating solutions to natures problems.
Society now: trying to create solutions to self made ones.

Hegel talked about the same thing. He said freedom should be under restrictions. You can play in any way you wanna play in the box but there is supposed to be a box surely.

Why dating apps keep us single :

Yesterday I broke my right elbow, essentially because I had too many choices. I understood it and thought to find something in the net to give me better explanations. I am so glad I have found this video and I guess I can practice about choices.

Merry me 💜

Too many choices can cause paralysis. Learn to have less expectations so you won't become dissatisfied.
"The more options available, expectations about how good something is goes up. You can't help but compare what you got to what you expected, and what you got is disappointing compared to what you expected. Adding options to people's life can't help but add more expectations that people have about how good those expectations would be."

Truth makes you free. Knowing what you are made of and keeping that alive is freedom. In today`s world we are exposed to many lies, many distractions and therefore, if we pay attention to them we lose our focus and in the end, our lifes.

can others guess what’s on a persons thought bubble?

Omg, this video is back from 2005😯

I’ve seen this talk quite a few times, every time it strikes me how true it is, how much this applies to my experience of life. Comforting in a way but also frustrating - what do I do with this knowledge? How can I make other people realise the same? It affects everything- from being stressed on vacation from not doing enough or experiencing enough- to being the reason why it’s so difficult to find a partner. I do agree, times were better when the were worse.

16 years ago but stays relevant to today

Then insurance says
“Okay here’s what you will do”

Lower your expectations….. 😮…. I’m free🤗

Welfare is an abtract concept thats why we need freedom of intrest, looking you intrest you defy your welfare in any imaginable way posible

easy for those who have achieved the highest expectations in his life, but not vice versa. easy for those who have understood a lot of things, but not vice versa.

so in conclusion, I don't know and have nothing about the real problem. I have to achieve it all to have and understand about all the choices. i only what i need to avoid the hassle...

If I said, I didn't like either extreme, of one telephone which never broke, vs a million telephones, which provided nose trimming services which were surplus to requirement, there would seem to need to be an understanding of whether or not, we really were inextricably drifting to one or the other, or if the very fear of either outcome was preventing us from doing. If we were, then a moderating influence would be required.

As it happens, in the time since this video was posted, it turns out, mobile phones have - despite their flaws - provided a rather good example of how technology can elevate ordinarily earning people, at least in the sense of access to technologies. High quality mobile phones are now within reach to anybody who earns a decent wage in a developed, free market economy. Hurrah.

There was an attempt by at least one company I saw, to create a very high-end set of models, which were encased in precious metals and adorned by jewels, to cater to the super-wealthy - but these failed, as they were based on existing technological platforms, looked vulgar, and weighed far too much.

It was a rather gross attempt to retain an exclusivity at the top of the market, it has to be said, which didn't work because phones, despite their having become fashion and status symbols, are obsolete devices within a small number of years, no matter how much you try to turn them into timeless pieces of jewellery.

I think the moderating factor which respects individual freedom, rather than a constant, labourious and risky endeavour, alone - though this must have to be engaged in, to some extent - is a better, more educated sense of reality. A truthful sense of human nature, ideally, and if that is regarded as grand by some, then so be it - but so long as it's anchored in the best scientific knowledge possible, it will serve us.

For instance, to know that needing to be free, to live and to spend our own resources as we see fit - is to me, normal and right; but that using that freedom to do others down, or to have ever more shiny, banal things piling up, will not fill a void, or make us sustainably happy, is required. Whereas, anything from: having nice things that we've bought with money we've earned, that serve a purpose or which have genuine artistic value, to being productive and useful, to fostering good relationships with others, right through to helping others in very altruistic sorts of ways, are things that will probably make us happy - or happier - to varying degrees.

These things need to be kept in balance. Freedom is not a falsehood, in my view. It's not optional where success is concerned. It will only work for the betterment of humanity if it is well informed, is the point.

When I was a young man trying to find my way, my mother solved this paradox for me by saying, with a smile, "Whatever choice you make will be the right one."

Omg so many revelations. My parents had little choices but she is perplexed w how I struggle to be definitive about anything in life.

Watching this in 2023 makes me realize how watered down TED talent has become over the last 10-15 years.

この動画を見て、なぜGTD（タスク管理）が上手くいかないのか、ようやく原因がつかめました。プロジェクトリストを作成して、さぁやろうという段階で、強い抵抗感を感じていたのは、この「選択のパラドックス」だったのですね。

This is why I spend days on Amazon trying to decide which cabinet handles to buy. And then the next shiny thing pops up and takes me down another rabbit hole, looking at a million other options.

Indeed, when we narrow down a broad and vague idea, desire or goal, into something that is much more specific, precise and focused, subsequently, we do not have to worry about the paralysis that follows the choices and the other choices we will have to consider. And based on that, we will be even more certain and confident in our decision :)