Lateral with Tom Scott
62: The lifesaving blackout
Dec 15, 2023
Hannah Witton, Mike Boyd, and Geoff Marshall tackle questions about versatile voting, clever creatures, and brick buildings. They discuss the mystery of a repurposed building, a bizarre arrangement with chickens and prisoners, a hijacking incident with a clever landing strategy, a silent show of support for the Civil Rights Act, an anti-smoking charity's clever message campaign, and Scottish people and lottery tickets.
51:05
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Quick takeaways
- The presence of past winners in a queue can create a perception of luck and success among customers.
- Symbolic gestures can have a powerful impact on decision-making and bring about significant changes.
Deep dives
One kiosk has a long queue, the other has few customers
In a Japanese street, two nearby kiosks sell the same item. Every few months, one has a queue of about 70 people, the other has just a few. The item being sold is lottery tickets. The difference in queues is due to the fact that one kiosk has sold winning tickets in the past, creating a belief among customers that it is luckier.
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