Snapshot · Modern Wisdom
Since the introduction of infinite scrolling, people have been getting progressively more bored with entertainment, because the brain's comparison-engine nature means knowing other content exists undermines enjoyment of the current one.
Where this was said
At 8:38 · chapter starts 3:30
Chris asks why talking about constraints is so unsexy, and Epstein offers an evolutionary explanation that reframes the entire episode's premise: our brains are miscalibrated for modern abundance. We evolved to want more of everything because, in our ancestral environment, excess was nearly impossible — just as with sugar, the craving made sense when the resource was scarce and has become pathological now that it's ubiquitous. This mismatch surfaces clearly in psychological surveys: in an international study cataloguing creativity myths, the number-one false belief held by respondents was that people are most creative when they have maximum freedom [1] — David Epstein "We evolved to want more, but we're now drowning in abundance. Since infinite scrolling arrived, boredom has increased, not decreased — and …" 07:47 . Epstein pairs this with the 100-million-fold increase in consumer options since pre-industrial times — far outpacing the roughly 400-fold rise in wealth — and the counterintuitive finding that since infinite scrolling was introduced, people have become progressively more bored. Experiments bear this out: participants randomly assigned a single video to watch report feeling less bored than those given a free choice of 20 from the same pool. The explanation is that the brain is a comparison engine, and simply knowing other options exist undermines your enjoyment of the present one — a direct conflict with every economic model of rational consumer behaviour.
We evolved to want more, but we're now drowning in abundance. Since infinite scrolling arrived, boredom has increased, not decreased — and experiments show people enjoy a single randomly assigned video more than one they chose from twenty options. The brain as comparison engine is its own worst enemy.
Consumer options have increased by roughly 100 million fold compared to pre-industrial societies, dwarfing the 400-fold increase in wealth, yet people keep reporting they want even more choice.
People who try to maximise every decision are less happy, more regret-prone, and no better at actually choosing well. Herbert Simon — who coined 'satisficing,' won the Nobel Prize in Economics, the Turing Award, and the top prize in psychology — proved the point by wearing one beret, eating the same breakfast, and living in the same house for 46 years.
Research shows that people who try to maximize every decision spend more time deciding, are less happy with their choices, are more prone to regret, and are less satisfied with their lives overall.
Bhanu and his team built approximately 50 free tools to attract search traffic, each linked back to SiteGPT.
With AI coding tools like Cursor, Bhanu can now create a new free marketing tool in less than 5 minutes by referencing existing tools.
Bhanu filters Ahrefs keyword results to show only those with a keyword difficulty below 10, making them realistic ranking targets for any decent website.
Bhanu sets a minimum search volume of 1,000 monthly searches when selecting keywords to target with free tools.
PropGPT averaged 20 downloads per day right after launching on the App Store through influencer marketing.
Eyal and Yali shut down all marketing and spent 4 months completely rebuilding PropGPT from scratch.
PropGPT has accumulated over 40,000 total downloads since launch.
PropGPT's large language model (AI) operating costs are just $20 per month, and the cost is continually falling.
Ad-based monetization works well for game apps where users spend extended time in-session, as seen with Grid and Wordle.
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