Jonah Lehrer - Jonah Lehrer is an Editor at Large for Seed Magazine and the author of 'How We Decide' and 'Proust Was a Neuroscientist'. He graduated from Columbia University and studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He's written for The New Yorker, Nature, Wired, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. He is also a Contributing Editor at Scientific American Mind and National Public Radio's Radio Lab.
Really though, what a bunch of bollocks this video was. Anyone who says they actually learned something from this is a liar. Not one concrete method or explanation of rubbish he's talking about. Reminds me of those "mystics" and spirituals.
I get the point. You will be much more fulfilled as a dumpster-diver than a shopper. From the dawn of humanity, we were content to forage and be happy with what we glean from the environment. As consumeristic Americans, we learned that we have "Freedom of Choice", and as such are confronted with warehouses of products hardly any of which we actually need.
This dichotomy comes into stark focus for me, a poor person who scavenges for food. Through some blessing of providence, I can create a masterpiece of a meal with whatever I scrounge up that day, no recipies required. On the opposite extreme, armies of good consumers march to the supermarket with recipe lists spending money on what they need to create a masterpiece. But I know what they serve up, boring suburban meals that cost too much and support the agribusiness-retail complex. And then they complain about how food costs too much.
It's just that, as powerful humans we have created abundance and now suffer at the hands of our own creation. We were happier when we had to adapt to our environment, not control it. And we still complain about what we cannot change, but that is a result of our neurosis rather than actual discomfort.
Good ideas, just needs some science to back it up
Giving a small section of people a task like "choosing the best car" can only be used as a first step at best.. Perhaps as an indicator to decide if it's worthwhile investigating these theories in depth.
I would like to better understand 2 point of this talk and if anybody can explain it would be very helpfull:
1.how did the fireman escape the fire
2.the experiment on buddhist monk
Thanks