Richard Thaler

They're tall and often chrome or something.

Given the name...

you know what that thing is designed to do.

Not be pushed, you're saying.

Not be pushed, right.

And no matter what is written on that door, your brain just wants to pull it.

There are some architects who I think should go to a special place in hell

where every door is designed in order to get you to do the wrong thing.

Let's clarify what we want to say about these.

It's not that somebody designed them to make fools of people.

This was just incompetence.

You just didn't think that if you put a pole on a door that needs to be pushed, you're really making life harder than it need be.

A simple example is what I call the unsubscribe trap.

where with one click, you can sign up for some service or subscription, but then to unsubscribe, they make you jump through hoops.

You have to call, you have to wait, and then they try to sell you something.

That's sludge.

I think that one is clearly intentional.

They know it's inconvenient because they are consumers also of other services and

There are stories of gyms during COVID.

that would make their members come to the gym to quit, the gym that they're not allowed to go to.