Comments on: Leonard Mlodinow on Wine Experts http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/11/16/leonard-mlodinow-on-wine-experts/ Self-Experimentation, Scientific Method, the Shangri-La Diet, etc. Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:34:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: Mike Kenny http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/11/16/leonard-mlodinow-on-wine-experts/#comment-362848 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:14:11 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/11/16/leonard-mlodinow-on-wine-experts/#comment-362848 This makes me wonder if I'm enjoying things in nice packages more than I need to. There might be a gold-mine in products in ugly packages. If the framing effects really do make a wine better--I think Tyler Cowen argued for the possibility framing effects might add to real enjoyment--then perhaps you can use this effect to make your life better. You buy some cheap liquor and expensive liquor, pour them into identical, nice-looking bottles, and mix them up so you don't know by look which bottle is expensive and which is cheap. This makes me wonder if I’m enjoying things in nice packages more than I need to. There might be a gold-mine in products in ugly packages.

If the framing effects really do make a wine better–I think Tyler Cowen argued for the possibility framing effects might add to real enjoyment–then perhaps you can use this effect to make your life better. You buy some cheap liquor and expensive liquor, pour them into identical, nice-looking bottles, and mix them up so you don’t know by look which bottle is expensive and which is cheap.

]]> by: MT http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/11/16/leonard-mlodinow-on-wine-experts/#comment-362598 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:11:19 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/11/16/leonard-mlodinow-on-wine-experts/#comment-362598 Or similar to Amazon's book ratings. Such ratings could be very valuable, but they're also very hackable currently, as fake ratings can be added by people with vested interests, and often they are quite highly incentivzed to do so. What is needed is for "real name" systems to become more common and acceptable, so people have to provide some evidence of who they are -- say a credit card -- in order to create an account. I think we'll see such verification techniques become more common as digital natives age and constitute a greater proportion of the population, using the net more and more naturally. Or similar to Amazon’s book ratings. Such ratings could be very valuable, but they’re also very hackable currently, as fake ratings can be added by people with vested interests, and often they are quite highly incentivzed to do so. What is needed is for “real name” systems to become more common and acceptable, so people have to provide some evidence of who they are — say a credit card — in order to create an account. I think we’ll see such verification techniques become more common as digital natives age and constitute a greater proportion of the population, using the net more and more naturally.

]]> by: seth http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/11/16/leonard-mlodinow-on-wine-experts/#comment-362346 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:49:42 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/11/16/leonard-mlodinow-on-wine-experts/#comment-362346 I wonder if an online site, a cross between Wikipedia and Zagat, where anyone can add a rating, would help. I wonder if an online site, a cross between Wikipedia and Zagat, where anyone can add a rating, would help.

]]> by: epistemocrat http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/11/16/leonard-mlodinow-on-wine-experts/#comment-362302 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:11:10 +0000 http://www.blog.sethroberts.net/2009/11/16/leonard-mlodinow-on-wine-experts/#comment-362302 Hi Seth, I thought this was a good prescription from that article: "If you ignore the web of medals and ratings, how do you decide where to spend your money? One answer would be to do more experimenting, and to be more price-sensitive, refusing to pay for medals and ratings points." We each are "experts" in our own taste preferences: self-experiment away. And maybe use the heuristic that the average price per bottle never exceed $10 in these experiments. I suspect the health benefits from wine accrue via hormesis. Intake becomes toxic at some point, I imagine, and I suspect that level is lower than we think. Cheers, Brent Hi Seth,

I thought this was a good prescription from that article:

“If you ignore the web of medals and ratings, how do you decide where to spend your money?

One answer would be to do more experimenting, and to be more price-sensitive, refusing to pay for medals and ratings points.”

We each are “experts” in our own taste preferences: self-experiment away.

And maybe use the heuristic that the average price per bottle never exceed $10 in these experiments.

I suspect the health benefits from wine accrue via hormesis.

Intake becomes toxic at some point, I imagine, and I suspect that level is lower than we think.

Cheers,

Brent

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