Disappointing but not necessarily surprising: Verizon might be collecting your browsing history (The Verge). With directions for opting out.
When I checked our account tonight, I discovered that our fambly had been opted in. But now we’re out.
Monday, December 20, 2021
Verizon, grr
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> When I checked our account tonight, I discovered that our fambly had been opted in. But now we’re out.
Hi Michael. Ever heard of "Behavioral Economics"? It is the science of manipulating people for profit.
From something I wrote a while back:
Recently, I got a copy of Alberto Cairo's The Truthful Art, subtitled Data, charts, and maps for communication... Cairo tells a great story about Richard Thaler. Thaler is the guy responsible for "behavioral" economics. He invented the "nudge". Because of him, when you're filling in a form, the answers they want you to pick are preselected and set as defaults. Because of him, when you're looking for something to watch on Netflix, if you pause long enough to read the episode blurb, the damn thing starts to play...
Alberto Cairo:
"In his book Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics (2015), University of Chicago's Richard H. Thaler recounts an anecdote that may be useful for any teacher. At the beginning of his career as a professor, Thaler made many of his students mad by designing a midterm exam that was deemed too hard. The average score, on a scale from 0 to 100, was 72. He got a lot of complaints about it.
Thaler decided to run an experiment. In the next exam, he set the maximum score to 137 points. The average ended up being 96 points. His students were thrilled."
I do so hate the nudge.
Happy holidays!
It’s nice to hear from you, Art. Happy holidays to you too!
I don’t know Richard Thaler’s work, but I have read Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy, and I would guess that there might some overlap.
137 points! That sounds like something from a Simpsons episode. I wish I had had a chance to try it.
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