barry schwartz

maximize individual freedom - 2007 ted

about his book - paradox of choice

the way to max freedom is to max choice.

everywhere life is choice

toys

health

identity - every morning - what kind of person do you want to be

work

diy - is it good news or bad news?

 yes

all the choice has 2 effects

1) it produces paralysis rather than liberation
2) even if we make a choice we end up less satisfied than if there were less choices (grass is greener - imagined alternative increases regret)

i want the kind that used to be the only kind - jeans

all the choice gave him better jeans... wrote a whole book to try to explain it to himself - why did he feel worse? expectations went up

everything was better back when everything was worse

it was possible to have things that were a pleasant surprise

now - you will never be pleasantly surprised - because with all choices - we expect perfection

with one choice - and bad result - who's responsible - the world

with many choices - and bad result - who's respsonsible - you - why depression is so rampant

we do better and feel worse

some choice is better than none

but more choice is not better than some choice

what enables all this choice is material affluence

steve levit - ted - child seats are waste of money

what barry is saying - is that these expensive choices - don't just not help - they actually hurt, they make society worse

so - spreading the wealth (economists - operado improving move - income redistribution) - would improve both sides of economics

if you shadder the fish bowl - you don't have freedom - you have paralysis

everybody needs a fishbowl

impoverished imagination 

if everything is possible - you decrease satisfaction

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