My physics teacher, F.M., told our class an interesting story of "blind consumerism."

A long time ago, he said, he went to buy a TV. And just as he settled on a nice television set, the salesman waltzed over, and enthusiastically discouraged him from buying that particular television set. F.M naturally wondered why shouldn't he buy that particular television set. The salesman said that they have a better television set.

"So what is it exactly this new TV can do that this one can't?"
"Well, see, here, you can't see the volume."

F.M. pondered a little over the meaning and procedure of "seeing the volume."

"'See the volume?'"
"Yeah, the volume...you can't see the volume on that TV."

F.M. studied the price of the "new, new model" and found it ridiculously high.

The feature now comes in all TVs, and everybody uses it: a little green scale shows you the volume of your TV, usually 0 to 60.

So the question F.M. posed to us in class was: how helpful is it to see the volume?
We weren't exactly keen and attentive; it was the last class before lunch. But the main idea got through, and stayed with me. Humans are ridiculously gullible creatures.

Why would anyone want to SEE how LOUD their TV is?