Talking Tragedy
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This time, I will be discussing a TED talk entitled "Are We in Control of Our Own Decisions" by Dan Ariely, and how it specifically relates to the topic of tragedy. This TED talk was about how certain aspects impact the decision making process of human beings. What may feel like free will to us may not actually be, due to the way the brain is wired. Ariely talks about how to influence the decision making process, and how certain options become more popular to us when we are presented a very slightly worse option that is otherwise identical. In his example, he gave a survey to people asking whether they would rather go on a totally free trip to Paris or a totally free trip to Rome. As you can imagine, the results were split fairly evenly; it all came down purely to personal preference. However, when a different group of people were presented with three options, a free trip to Paris, a free trip to Rome, or a free trip to Rome excluding free coffee, a majority of people suddenly apted for the Rome with coffee option. By including the slightly worse deal of Rome without coffee, Ariely caused the inclusion of free coffee to seem like a much, much better deal that it really was, causing people to gravitate towards that choice. These principles do apply to tragedy, and, using it as an example, Oedipus. By hearing of this awful prophecy, Oedipus was inclined to do something that he perhaps would not have originally considered doing; he left home and traveled far, far away. If he had not heard of his fate, he would have remained in his hometown and might not have ever even met his birth mother or father. This is comparable to the people choosing Rome with coffee when presented with the coffeeless option, even if their plan was to pick Paris in the first place. Sometimes, more information can be our downfall. Thinking that you're getting a better deal out of something is also a topic that was discussed by Ariely during this TED talk. By having an option to get more out of a situation, people will be more likely to choose that option, even if they are getting stuff that they don't really want or need. When we look at Oedipus, this is exactly what seemed to be going on with him. Certainly leaving his home seemed like the best option for him; he would not have to worry about sleeping with his mother or murdering his father if he was nowhere near where he grew up. This was not actually the case, though, and these so-called 'benefits' turned out not actually being anything at all, as he ran towards his birth parents rather than away from them. Dan Ariely delivered a very interesting presentation. While not outright, it definitely does have some ties to tragedy. Overall, this was the most fun topic to write about, and I feel like it has been the most helpful piece of media that we have listened to so far. It caused me to think about the connections, and enabled me to come to conclusions that I am quite happy with. It has been a good experience.
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