Google = brain food? Photo by missha on creative commons
Everyone knows the staff perks at Google are good, but I thought they were basically about free smoothies and office pool tables. Turns out employees also get visits from leading authors, economists, philosophers, scientists and politicians – from Barack Obama to Noam Chomsky to Hans Blix.
Lucky for us, Google are all about sharing, right, so as long as you have the time (the talks generally last around an hour) you’re welcome to an intimate audience with the zeitgeist too, thanks to the democratic medium of youtube (where Google has its own AtGoogleTalks channel).
Thanks to a recommendation from Geoff Riley’s excellent economics blog, I recently watched Dan Ariely – author of “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions” – speaking at Google about the behavioral economics theories that underpin his bestselling book. The video (below) is worth watching; very funny. Access to these guys… much more covetable than a smoothie.
Really fascinating video – really makes you think about what influences you.
I especially liked the part about the Economist subscription charges – have noticed things like that before but hadn’t thought through why companies present the pricing options in that way.