Would you drink from this water fountain?
Aug
05
Would you drink from this toilet?
What if I told you that this is a perfectly new toilet? Would it make a difference?
If you feel uncomfortable, it is because the meaning of the word toilet “sticks” to it. It turns out that this feeling is not just about toilets, and there are many words whose meanings sticks to them. Think about chocolate that looks like a cockroach…….
This picture was taken in the Exploratorium in SF, and it was part of their exhibit on discussing things.
The Upside of Irrationality, explores some positive and some negative ways that irrationality plays out in our lives.
I think it is perfectly rational not to drink from this fountain, as someone who put one of this in an art gallery, as an exhibit, found to their cost, when someone tried to use it…
My daughter had a college assignment — use food coloring to change our perceptions — purple potatoes, green hamburger, etc. Even knowing it was a test, the colors were a huge influence.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pm/2008/08/what_was_that_broom_worth.shtml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3257370.stm
http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/toilets.html
Art and the bathroom collide.. I can’t find the article about the visitor using the loo in the ‘art installation’, but these show some similar ideas..
“What if I told you that this is a perfectly new toilette?”
It’s not just the meaning sticking, it’s trust. If I bought a brand new toilet myself and no one else had access to it, I might be slightly uncomfortable, but I wouldn’t hesitate. Without this kind of certainty, I’d be very hesitant.
Well, maybe you should all reconsider where you drink from… Remember this:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3293080&page=1
The middle school kid who proved the water in the drinking fountains at school was dirtier than that in the toilets.