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Are fruits and vegetables designed to be addictive? Are hobbies like playing the piano or running designed to be addictive? I think you're too expansive in you

Are fruits and vegetables designed to be addictive? Are hobbies like playing the piano or running designed to be addictive? I think you're too expansive in your use of "everything".

freehunter 6y ago
Funny enough yes, fruits and vegetables were designed to be addictive. The fruits we have today are the result of genetic modifications that make them sweeter, so sweet in fact that zoos have had to stop feeding modern fruits to their animals because it was causing the animals to gain too much weight [1]. Vegetables can be the same way. Look at corn before humans ate it versus what it looks like today [2]. Humans specifically designed fruits and vegetables to have more sugar so they were tastier to eat. And this was thousands of years ago, so it's not even a new creation. I don't think running counts as something humans designed but the hobby of running absolutely is designed to be addictive and maximize user engagement. Is there any reason for running shoes to be bright red or lime green or neon orange? Most normal shoes aren't, so why are running shoes? Because brightly colored running shoes sell better than more neutral colors [3]. Likewise, Strava is a very popular running app. Why is it more popular than many competitors? Because it compares your results to someone else's results and challenges you to do that run again, but faster so you can beat this other person's time. That's pretty addictive and of course it was specifically designed that way. There are even people who consider themselves Strava addicts [4]. You're right that everything is too expansive, but everything humans have designed, we've designed to be as addictive as possible (or at least to increase user engagement and retention). Yes, even the piano... the instrument was originally a pipe organ operated by buttons and levers. That's difficult to play and difficult to use in your home so we designed a smaller version called the clavichord but it was too difficult to hear in stage performances (and performing in front of a live audience is... addictive and people want to keep doing it) so along came the harpsichord which was later refined into the piano because the piano is easier to play than a lever-operated pipe organ and if no one cared about user engagement and retention, why bother making a piano that's easier to play? [1] https://weather.com/news/news/2018-10-03-fruit-so-sweet-zoo-stopped-feeding-them-to-animals https://weather.com/news/news/2018-10-03-fruit-so-sweet-zoo-... [2] https://www.sciencealert.com/fruits-vegetables-before-domestication-photos-genetically-modified-food-natural https://www.sciencealert.com/fruits-vegetables-before-domest... [3] https://www.racked.com/2018/1/9/16849572/running-shoes-so-ugly-why https://www.racked.com/2018/1/9/16849572/running-shoes-so-ug... [4] https://triathlonmagazine.ca/gear/am-i-becoming-too-addicted-to-strava/ https://triathlonmagazine.ca/gear/am-i-becoming-too-addicted...

Are fruits and vegetables designed to be addictive? Are hobbies like playing the piano or running designed to be addictive? I think you're too expansive in your use of "everything".

freehunter 6y ago

Funny enough yes, fruits and vegetables were designed to be addictive. The fruits we have today are the result of genetic modifications that make them sweeter, so sweet in fact that zoos have had to stop feeding modern fruits to their animals because it was causing the animals to gain too much weight [1]. Vegetables can be the same way. Look at corn before humans ate it versus what it looks like today [2]. Humans specifically designed fruits and vegetables to have more sugar so they were tastier to eat. And this was thousands of years ago, so it's not even a new creation. I don't think running counts as something humans designed but the hobby of running absolutely is designed to be addictive and maximize user engagement. Is there any reason for running shoes to be bright red or lime green or neon orange? Most normal shoes aren't, so why are running shoes? Because brightly colored running shoes sell better than more neutral colors [3]. Likewise, Strava is a very popular running app. Why is it more popular than many competitors? Because it compares your results to someone else's results and challenges you to do that run again, but faster so you can beat this other person's time. That's pretty addictive and of course it was specifically designed that way. There are even people who consider themselves Strava addicts [4]. You're right that everything is too expansive, but everything humans have designed, we've designed to be as addictive as possible (or at least to increase user engagement and retention). Yes, even the piano... the instrument was originally a pipe organ operated by buttons and levers. That's difficult to play and difficult to use in your home so we designed a smaller version called the clavichord but it was too difficult to hear in stage performances (and performing in front of a live audience is... addictive and people want to keep doing it) so along came the harpsichord which was later refined into the piano because the piano is easier to play than a lever-operated pipe organ and if no one cared about user engagement and retention, why bother making a piano that's easier to play? [1] https://weather.com/news/news/2018-10-03-fruit-so-sweet-zoo-stopped-feeding-them-to-animals https://weather.com/news/news/2018-10-03-fruit-so-sweet-zoo-... [2] https://www.sciencealert.com/fruits-vegetables-before-domestication-photos-genetically-modified-food-natural https://www.sciencealert.com/fruits-vegetables-before-domest... [3] https://www.racked.com/2018/1/9/16849572/running-shoes-so-ugly-why https://www.racked.com/2018/1/9/16849572/running-shoes-so-ug... [4] https://triathlonmagazine.ca/gear/am-i-becoming-too-addicted-to-strava/ https://triathlonmagazine.ca/gear/am-i-becoming-too-addicted...