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Why We Like What We Like
We don't know what we like
We often don't like what we say we like. We come to enjoy things we thought we hated and we are poor at predicting what we will possibly like.
We can't articulate the reasons we prefer one thing over another. We often decide we like something without cause or like something that was subtly suggested.
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Key Ideas
Coffee brewing
In years passed, coffee drinkers didn't know how coffee was produced or brewed. Coffee was cheap, tasted bitter, and was purposed for medicine or fuel. But over the decades, coffee has ...
Spending a bit more money on coffee
High-quality coffee is more expensive, and spending a bit more means your coffee is more likely to be ethically produced.
Coffee producers have historically been exploited, and even fair trade prices are not always enough. Where possible, buy your coffee from roasters who purchase their beans ethically.
Drink thoughtfully prepared cups
- Coffee stays fresh only for a limited time. The person making it must know how to brew it properly.
- Even the best beans brewed the wrong way can produce a bad cup of coffee.
- To enjoy coffee, look for places with lots of information about their coffee displayed, and/or staff who can answer your questions about the coffee.
- To brew at home, you're best off learning how to brew well by hand, using a kettle to boil water and one of the dozens of manual coffee devices available on the market.
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Key Ideas
The power of caffeine
Scientists determined that a person who is more sensitive to the bitter taste of caffeine drinks more coffee.
The stimulating effects of caffeine on the brain act as a kind of positive rein...
Genes and coffee
More research is needed to validate whether there is a causal link between genes and specific taste perceptions.
Scientists are planning to delve further into the relationship between taste perception and health - to evaluate if bitter taste genes have implications on disease risks.
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Key Ideas
Information storms
We often feel overwhelmed when we are exposed to a large volume of information. We also rely on secondary knowledge that does not come from any external source.
To put it another way: rightly...
How misinformation builds
- When we encounter unfamiliar information on a social network, we verify it in one of two ways. We either go through the burdensome process of countless claims and counter-claims to understand if it is true, or we rely on others by way of social proof.
- If we search for online information, instead of coming up with our own way of assessing the quality or the usefulness of every website, we rely on Google's PageRank algorithm to come up with the best sites. In essence, we rely on other people to source information by use of user traffic, reviews, ratings, clicks and likes.
How to handle an infostorm
Infostorms are like actual storms: they are a product of climatic conditions. Different climates can produce different results.
The more we understand the chain of events that led to a particular view, the better we are equipped to appreciate it if we are skeptical or take into account other perspectives.