James Freeman on mon 16 aug 10
At a show at a very high end glass gallery near my old home town a few
years ago, most of the work was priced in the $5000 to $25,000 range.
One "artist" was showing some tall stacks of random glass forms. The
individual forms were very nicely made, but the stacks themselves were
rather silly and pointless. They were priced at $225,000 to $250,000.
Along with "What on earth makes those things worth $225,000?", I
asked a friend who owns another gallery why the glass gallery would
even bother including such works when no one in their right mind would
ever part with so much money for one. His reply was that the gallery
was well aware that no one would ever buy one, and that they were
there solely to make the $25,000 pieces seem cheap by comparison,
rather than outrageously priced on their own.
Now this, from Discover Magazine, Science, Technology, and the Future:
=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=
=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D
=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=
=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D
=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D
Brainless slime mold makes decisions like humans
A couple arrive at a fancy restaurant and they=3D92re offered the wine
list. This establishment only has two bottles on offer, one costing =3DA35
and the other costing =3DA325. The second bottle seems too expensive and
the diners select the cheaper one. The next week, they return. Now,
there=3D92s a third bottle on the list but it=3D92s a vintage, priced at a
staggering =3DA31,000. Suddenly, the =3DA325 bottle doesn=3D92t seem all th=
at
expensive, and this time, the diners choose it instead.
Businesses use this tactic all the time =3D96 an extremely expensive
option is used to make mid-range ones suddenly seem like attractive
buys. The strategy only works because humans like to compare our
options, rather than paying attention to their absolute values. In the
wine example, the existence of the third bottle shouldn=3D92t matter =3D96 =
the
=3DA325 option costs the same amount either way, but in one scenario it
looks like a rip-off and in another, it looks like a steal. The simple
fact is that to us, a thing=3D92s value depends on the things around it.
Economists often refer to this as =3D93irrational=3D94.
But if that=3D92s the case, we=3D92re not alone in our folly. Other animals=
,
from birds to bees, make choices in the same way. Now, Tanya Latty and
Madeleine Beekman from the University of Sydney, have found the same
style of decision-making in a creature that=3D92s completely unlike any of
these animals =3D96 the slime mould, Physarum polycephalum. It=3D92s a
single-celled, amoeba-like creature that doesn=3D92t have a brain.
=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=
=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D
=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=
=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D
=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D=3D3D
Great to know that when I fall for a potter's $500 pots, then go home
with one of his $50 mugs or tea bowls thinking I have gotten a piece
of the great artist at a bargain, I am being about as smart as a slime
mold. I probably just purchased an insignificant pot at a high price
rather than a smaller, undervalued version of a $500 pot.
Just something to ponder.
...James
James Freeman
"All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice.=3DA0 I
should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."
-Michel de Montaigne
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesfreemanstudio/
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources
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