Apps for Hamlet

Barry Schwartz gave a great TED talk on the “paradox of choice”: beyond a point, the number of choices is overwhelming to many. Many thought that the problem was the lack of information on the choices. But that wasn’t the issue. After all, isn’t Eugene Wei right when he writes:

“The internet has intensified this curse, no one can make a purchase decision without reading a bunch of reviews online, or Googling “what is the best [X]” and trying to sift through a bunch of spammy websites to find some authoritative-sounding article. After all, the internet has democratized information and put it at our fingertips, isn't it our own fault if we don't own the best SLR or printer or kitchen blender, or if we don't go to the best ramen house in Tokyo on our one visit there?”

Then again, if all you get is only “raw” information with no recommendations, it creates a new problem; what Dan Ariely calls the “burden of knowledge”:

“If a doctor tells you that you have to make a decision about what to do about a very sick child, that choice becomes a burden in itself regardless of the results. You wake up every day wondering if you did the right thing.”

A few smartphone apps try to help this problem of decision making (to be taken with a pinch of salt). Their scope varies from trivial things like deciding what to have for dinner to far more important ones like deciding where to live. Apps like ChoiceMap guide you step-by-step to list the selection criteria and then assign importance to each of them. Other apps like Decide Now let users spin a wheel instead! Yet others like Peep Advice ask others to provide inputs.

Are any of these the ideal way to decide things? Obviously not. On the other hand, if you’re stuck with analysis paralysis, perhaps it’s not such a bad idea to try these apps…

Of course, things will be taken to ridiculous extremes, as the Inspirator app shows. The purpose of this Bentley app?

“Sometimes, when you are so very, very rich, it's difficult to have normal human emotions like wanting to buy a $250,000 car.”

Its solution?

“The Inspirator app scans your face and then shows you a series of "lifestyle-themed visual stimuli" while measuring your reactions…At the end, you're presented with your custom Bentayga — the wheels, paint, and fabric all paired to your emotions.”

Outraged? Don’t be. After all, isn’t author of the article, James Vincent, right in saying:

“It's such high-level bullshit that it's almost enjoyable.”

I’m betting Hamlet would have given such apps a shot!