Been having problems which may link to our router, furnished by Verizon as part of our FIOS plan. So I spent much of the afternoon chatting with a saleswoman, trying to explain that we were happy with our current service (and reconciled to the price) but needed a new router. She was persistent in trying to upgrade us in different ways.
It was an interesting experience, which led me to think about information asymmetry. What I experienced today wasn't exactly an asymmetry in information. Verizon lists all their options for services, equipment, etc. and the costs for each on their website. So in theory I had the information I needed available to me. What I didn't have was the time, patience, maybe the brainpower, and definitely the self-confidence to sort through the options and make my decisions.
Ricky Jay died, and the papers are running his obits. If I understand magic, which I don't, in theory the audience has the information to see through the act. But the magician gives us so much information, much of it misleading, that we are totally confused.
Mystery writers, at least the classic ones, give the reader all the clues needed to determine "who done it", but so artfully, included with so much dross, most readers will be surprised in the end.
What I'm saying is there's some underlying commonality among the three scenarios. There's two parties, and one party has the advantage in the relationship because they control how the relationship is structured, particularly by providing a surplus of "information".
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