Diderot Effect, Animated Cave Art, Running Benefits Your Knees

Curiosity Weekly

Warner Bros. Discovery

Science

4.6 • 963 Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2021

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Learn about the Diderot Effect; how cave art becomes animated in firelight; and why running may be good for your knees.

The Diderot Effect is why buying one new thing makes you want to buy more new things by Steffie Drucker

Clear, J. (2015, October 6). The Diderot Effect: Why We Want Things We Don’t Need. James Clear. https://jamesclear.com/diderot-effect
Hendricks, S. (2018, July 16). How the Diderot Effect explains why you buy things you don’t need. Big Think; Big Think. https://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/how-the-diderot-effect-explains-why-you-buy-things-you-dont-need
Wiest, B. (2018, July 10). The “Diderot Effect” Explains Why It’s So Easy To Feel Like You Never Have, Or Do, Enough. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/briannawiest/2018/07/10/the-diderot-effect-explains-why-its-so-easy-to-feel-like-you-never-have-or-do-enough/?sh=14b863f555fd
Diderot, D. (1769). Regrets for my Old Dressing Gown. Marxists.org. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/diderot/1769/regrets.htm

Cave art becomes animated when you view it in firelight by Grant Currin

Ouellette, J. (2021, June 19). Archaeologists recreated three common kinds of Paleolithic cave lighting. Ars Technica; Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/06/archaeologists-recreated-three-common-kinds-of-paleolithic-cave-lighting/
Wachtel, E. (2017). The First Picture Show: Cinematic Aspects of Cave Art. Leonardo, 26(2), 135–140. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/606950/pdf
Light in darkness: an experimental look at Paleolithic cave lighting. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/p-li060921.php
Medina-Alcaide, M. Á., Garate, D., Intxaurbe, I., Sanchidrián, J. L., Rivero, O., Ferrier, C., Mesa, M. D., Pereña, J., & Líbano, I. (2021). The conquest of the dark spaces: An experimental approach to lighting systems in Paleolithic caves. PLOS ONE, 16(6), e0250497. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250497

Running May Actually Be Good for Your Knees by Ashley Hamer first aired September 2, 2018 https://omny.fm/shows/curiosity-daily/infidelity-predictors-buzz-aldrin-s-moon-mementos

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Curiosity.com.
0:06.0	I'm Cody Goff.
0:07.0	And I'm Ashley Hamer.
0:08.0	Today you learn about why buying one new thing makes you want to buy more new things,
0:12.0	how cave art becomes animated when
0:14.7	seen in firelight, and why running may actually be good for your knees.
0:19.6	Let's satisfy some curiosity.
0:21.6	Think about your last big purchase.
0:25.0	Chances are you followed it up with lots of little purchases.
0:30.0	A new laptop makes you want to buy new headphones and a second monitor.
0:34.4	A new outfit makes you want to buy new shoes and accessories.
0:38.4	This tendency to follow up one new purchase with more new purchases is so common that it has a name, the Didero effect.
0:48.2	The Didero effect is named for French philosopher Deney Dideroro who's best known for writing a popular
0:55.0	Enlightenment era Encyclopedia and his story literally sounds like a fairy tale
1:00.2	Dittorro was poor for most of his life until he got a windfall at age 52 from none other
1:07.2	than Catherine the Great. The Empress was a fan of his Encyclopedia and when she heard of his poverty she purchased his whole personal library for a thousand British pounds or nearly 250,000 US dollars today. Suddenly, Dittorro had money to spare. With his new funds, he decided
1:28.4	to splurge on one thing, a beautiful new scarlet robe. But there was a problem. The robe was so beautiful that everything else in his home paled by comparison. It all needed an upgrade. He swapped a straw chair for a
1:46.5	leather one and he bought a new kitchen table. He eventually replaced all of
1:52.0	his belongings but found himself swimming in debt and dissatisfaction.
1:58.0	Seriously, it sounds like a children's book with a moral of the story.
2:02.0	Well, we don't all come into a chunk of change as large as Dittorow did, but even small purchases can spawn others. You take up a new sport and suddenly you have to buy all the gear that goes with it and a fitness tracker,
2:16.5	or your kid gets an American girl doll and then begs for endless accessories.
	...

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