Everything’s overrated. That’s not just my opinion, and I’m not just having a hypercritical day. I mean, scientifically, literally, I think everything’s overrated. We rate a lot of things in everyday life, things like books and movies and restaurants and stupid blog posts and, anyway, I think there’s a rating bias. I think people, in very large numbers, say they like things more than they really do. It’s counter-intuitive really because most humans love being haters. We love to criticize and point out flaws and kick the wounded YouTube video while it’s down. So what gives? Well, it’s something I call crowd or associated bias.

read more