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I agree it's dumb, but the important thing to realise is that pretty much everyone is falling for it pretty much all the time. It's hard to argue that this sam
by sjwright 12y ago
I agree it's dumb, but the important thing to realise is that pretty much everyone is falling for it pretty much all the time.
It's hard to argue that this same motivation isn't driving sales of iPhones over Android and vice versa. Or Canon versus Nikon. Nike versus Adidas. Harvard versus Stanford. Obama versus (!Obama). Ford versus Toyota. We can rationalise many of these decisions, but so can the people who bought the other thing.
- bane 12y agoWell, like I said. It's basically instinctual. Humans are social animals that form into groups and groups need in-group out-group signaling to define themselves. Joining a group identity like this is basically our animal bits controlling what we do. It's subtle, and people are often surprised when they realize that this is what they're doing. But if you buy into a group identity and you can't rationally explain why, or have to post-rationalize, it's probably this effect. But it's also one of those things that, whenever you see it, is a reminder that humans have a long way to go and aren't as different from the rest of the animals as they'd like to believe. Why Apple purchased beats, is that it helps tie together several different social tribes, with Apple now able to try to cross-sell between them, something very hard to do.