In the TED Talk delivered by Dan Ariely, he suggests that we as people are not always in full control of our decisions. This is an interesting idea, as many ideologies are based on the concept of free will, but if we don't make our own decisions, it might spell trouble for that crowd. Ariely mostly focused on how given certain information, people are more likely to choose a certain outcome. This makes sense to me, being someone who is used to giving computers certain information and expecting a certain result. I do not particularly enjoy the idea that I might not be fully in control of my decisions, but since it's all I know, it can't be that bad. What is perhaps more relevant in this talk, however, is its connection to tragedy. It is not uncommon in tragic works to have a character that ends up doing something that they tried to avoid because of decisions that were already made for them, despite all their efforts. This was evident in "Oedipus Rex" when Oedipus, despite giving his damnedest effort, was unable to prevent the prophecy from coming true. This is relatively obvious, as the nature of a prophecy is that it is a fate of sorts and can't be changed. This element of tragedy is also apparent in Romeo and Juliet by the mere fact that Romeo and Juliet couldn't really choose what family they were born into, and were destined to die no matter what they did to try to prevent it. I found a relatively simple Prezi about choices in Hamlet that you can find here.
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