We live life emphasizing that the decisions we make lead us to our destination. Although this might be true, we overlook that fact that some decisions we don’t really make…they are made for us. Dan Ariely, a behaviorial economist, gathered some information about somewhat trivial decisions we “make” and how the choices givne to us affect the decisions. Sounds like common sense so far, huh?

Dan Ariely gathered some data about organ donors in a few European countries and this is what he found:

Doesn’t make sense, does it? You’d think it’d be a cultural difference but the fact that similar countries are on opposite ends would contradict that thought. Germany-Austria, UK-France, Netherlands-Belgium, etc. What could possibly cause this disparity?

Turns out that it has to do with the form at the DMV. The DMV form for the countries on the left read something like, “Check this box if you want to participate in the organ donor program.” People don’t check the box, they’re not in the program. The DMV form for the countries on the right read something like, “Check this box if you do not want to participate in the organ donor program.” People don’t check the box, they’re in the program.

You might be wandering why the Dutch were higher of all the ones on the left. Turns out the govt. sent out letters to each home begging people to join the organ donor program. As Dan Ariely said, “You know the phrase begging only gets you so much? Well it turns out it only gets you 28% in organ donation.” (insert lol here)

I don’t have much to add to this, Dr. Ariely did a great job with it…behavioral economics is where it’s at! If you’re interested here’s is that rest of his presentation: Dan Ariely - TED 2009.

I’ve realized that we’re all spoiled. Some discoveries don’t seem to have that “wow-factor,” sadly because the complexity of it is shadowed only by its pragmatic quality.

Many people can easily mention Einstein’s famous theory of relativity, but most of those people have never looked into it in such depth that they could actually tell someone else what it means. Do you even know what E = MC^2 means?

The theory of relativity isn’t pragmatic for our purposes (for now at least) so I’ll move on to what I really want to say. Agriculture. Simple? Yes, of course. Dig a small hole, put the seed in the hole, cover up the hole with dirt, pour water over it, and wait. But really, who the fuck went to the extent to actually think of this somewhat arbitrary process?

Thought process: “Hey, let me take this spherical object and put it in the ground just to see what happens.”

Pretty outrageous huh? Well take it one step further. Some guy decides to take some grain, grind it up, add some water and yeast, and put it over a fire…riiiiggghhhttt.

This is what keeps me up at night.