Your Morning Deception

From Up and Then Down, Nick Paumgerten's article about elevators in The New Yorker:

"In most elevators, at least in any built or installed since the early nineties, the door-close button doesn't work. It is there mainly to make you think it works... Once you know this, it can be illuminating to watch people compulsively press the door-close button. That the door eventually closes reinforces their belief in the button's power. It's a little like a prayer. Elevator design is rooted in deception – to disguise not only the bare fact of the box hanging by ropes but also the tethering of tenants to a system over which they have no command."

We've all suspected this to be true but it never stopped us from hitting the button. There's probably a lesson in there somewhere about why some marks, despite suspecting that some sort of con is being played, allow it to continue anyway.