Snapshot · Modern Wisdom
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.
Where this was said
At 11:00 · 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.
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.
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.
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When applying for Medicaid to cover nursing home costs, there is a 5-year look-back period that can disqualify applicants who gave away or spent down assets.
A broken pipe filled the Bad Friends studio with what the hosts identified as hydrogen sulfide — microscopic fecal aeroparticles — that the crew denied smelling.
Fei-Fei Li's father's liver surgery performed by a da Vinci robot resulted in 10 times less blood loss than a typical open liver surgery, thanks to laparoscopic precision.
Approximately 115 million adults in the US currently have prediabetes, most of whom are unaware, according to the Lingo sponsor segment.
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Men's overdose death rate fell 27% in a single year, outpacing the 23% drop for women.
The steepest decline in overdose deaths was among 15–24-year-olds, whose rate fell 37%.
Fei-Fei Li observed that on a given hospital shift, nurses walk miles just to fetch medicine and supplies, illustrating a clear use case for assistive robotics in healthcare.
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