Three Stories: What People Want

Almost all institutions are based on the idea that we know what people want. Think of the utilitarian principle of “the greatest pleasure for the most people”, and all of the underlying assumptions this relies upon. In theory, it makes sense. Maximise happiness. In practice, however, people don’t even know what makes them happy, let alone others.

There are three stories that I’d like to share that illustrate this better than any theory. The first is a version of Odysseus’ encounter with the sorceress Circe. In the original, Circe transforms Odysseus’ crew into pigs for abusing her hospitality. La Fontaine, the French fabulist, takes the story a step further, and instead of a drove of pigs, transforms the men into animals of all sorts: ‘one into a gull, another into a snake, this one into a wolf, that one into a roaring lion’. After a while, Odysseus, who was impervious to Circe’s magic, asked if she could return his crew to their original form. She accepts but on the condition that Odysseus ask them if they themselves wish to be human again. And so Odysseus asked the lion, who says in response:

‘You’re kidding. The king of all living things, without rival or predator, I devour whomever I like; I launch my lionesses hunting; everything that moves bows before my claws and worries at my roars. Why would I allow myself to be transformed back into an obedient bos’n…