THE WORLD QUESTION CENTER 2006 — Page 2. CLAY SHIRKY Social & Technology Network Topology Researcher; Adjunct Professor, NYU Graduate School of Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) Free will is going away. Time to redesign society to take that into account. In 2002, a group of teenagers sued McDonald's for making them fat, charging, among other things, that McDonald's used promotional techniques to get them to eat more than they should.
The suit was roundly condemned as an the erosion of the sense of free will and personal responsibility in our society. Less widely remarked upon was that the teenagers were offering an accurate account of human behavior. Consider the phenomenon of 'super-sizing', where a restaurant patron is offered the chance to increase the portion size of their meal for some small amount of money. Super-sizing is expressly designed to subvert conscious judgment, and it works. This matters for more than just fat teenagers. Consider laws concerning convicted pedophiles. Positive Psycology Center. Joe Forgas. Institut für Mind-Body-Medizin - Home. Home | Happy Planet Index. Home Page Ruut Veenhoven.