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The Paradox of Choice
sproketboy writes "Psychology professor Barry Schwartz has written a book which is a must read by those wanting to get Linux on the Desktop.
Dr. Schwartz examines the problem of too much choice in our society. Maybe Microsoft has it right after all?
Here's a video interview with Dr. Schwartz,
a review of the book from the New Yorker and
more info from PBS." Of course, the choice issue applies to far more than desktop computers, but is still instructive in that area. Thanks to Stefan Hudson for a SciAm story that has more information.
This is bullshit. Anybody who complains about having too many good choices has never been in the position of having only bad choices. It's not that the poor don't have choices. After all, poor people in India have many choices. They could walk around all night, they could steal a piece of cardboard under which they sleep, they could steal some other poor person's piece of cardboard, they could sleep under a car, they could lie down on a bit of earth devoid of any padding at all, they could commit a crime and go to jail, etc etc etc. Many choices. All of them STINK. I have no sympathy for people who have so many good choices that they have trouble choosing just one. None.
Unfortunaely, in a wealthy society like America, even stupid people get to be rich.
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
Of course, I haven't read the article, but I'd rather have choices than Big Brother Bill spoon-feeding me what He thinks I need!
[ insert your own witty .sig here ]
Linus on the Desktop...A problem? Really? It's not like we haven't used something worse for years...What about Windows 3.0 and 3.1 and 3.11 et al...My god, if people consider Linux not ready for a desktop then they should look back and see what they were using...then look at what they got now...then realise that the only real difference is what Linux has been doing all along...
When all is said and done, nothing changes...
What paradox? I'm sorry but that is not paradoxical by any stretch of imagination!
Choices are hard for most of less intelligent people. Any choices, not necessarily those related to computer software or even the technology as a whole.
Most of people (the "unwashed masses" if you will) don't want to make choices. Remember that most of people don't even choose such fundamental matters as their religion for God's sake, but stick to what they parents had chosen (or rather had sticked to what their parents had chosen (or... ad infinitum)) let alone such---let's face it---relatively unimportant parts of their existence as an operating system.
Most of people don't want to think more than absolutely necessary. They want automatic transmission because they don't want to think about changing gears, they want Windows because they don't want to think about recompiling the kernel, they want pop music because they don't want to think about the melody and harmony.
Other important problem is that those poeple usually want everything now. So analogously they use automatic transmission because they don't have to learn about the gears, they use Windows because they don't want to learn bash and the new way of working and they listen to pop music becauce they don't want to play the Second Hungarian Rhapsody by Ferenc Liszt hundred time before they "get it"---no, they listen to Britney Speers because they "get it" after two tacts of the repetititive piece of crap it is.
We, the Slashdot community, have to understand that as an intelligent minority. We have to understand that the majority of people unlike us don't love listening to classical music, hacking software or reading Aristoteles. They don't want fine cuisine, they want Mac Donald's. They want crap. Why? Because that's the most they could possibly aspire to understand.
But please, don't look at them like they were morons. That is simply not true. They were just not created to think, unlike us, and that's fine as long as we don't alienate too much and understand our position. Remember that for them we are the ones who are abnormal. But is that a paradox? I don't think so. Great article, nonetheless.
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
imagine getting a blowjob from Geoge Bush Jr.
that's what Linux is like right now. And Cheney. And Poindexter.
just like the humble blood clot... turboporsche@telus.net