GEL 2005 - Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz, author of the recently published The Paradox of Choice, spoke on the contents of his book. (I had picked up the book and attempted to finish it before the conference but was not successful. It is still in a pile of four books in progress that I need to finish.) Having at least started the book (and made good progress through it) as well as having read a few of the blogging or web articles about it, Barry talks was not as eye-opening for me as it may have been for others. My head was still spinning however with the insights (and implications thereof) that Barry made. Mark Hurst published a good interview with Barry before the conference here. If you have not read the book yet, Barry's key point is: Everyone agrees that having choice is better than not having choice. It seems evident that if choice is good, then more choice is better. The paradox is that this "obvious" truth isn't true. It turns out that a point can be reached where, with more choice, people are worse off. I highly recommending reading the whole book!