The Prisoner’s Dilemma: The Key To Successful Civilization

I read news items by opening them in background Firefox tabs from
Google Reader. I go through the feeds that I’m reading at the moment, open all that are
interesting, and then close my reader app.

What’s interesting about this is that if I leave for a bit before reading my
open tabs, something strange happens —
none of the tabs are as interesting as they were when I clicked them.
There’s a very specific reason for this. Our desire for an object is
directly affected by whether or not we own it. This is the reason that
you’ll watch Braveheart on TV (in lower quality — with commercials) even
though you own it on DVD. It’s also why the girl you have is never as
attractive as the girl you don’t.

The movie on TV is going off soon, and you aren’t in control of it so you
feel compelled to watch. Similarly, the stories that you opened tabs for
would have gone unread (gasp) had you not clicked on them. But once you own
the DVD or already have the actual stories open, the content isn’t as
interesting. It’s a mind game.

There’s not much we can do about this affliction as it’s likely deeply
rooted in evolutionary biology. But we can at least be aware of it.: