What if I told you that the biggest problems in your life each had an easy solution? That posing for 20 seconds like a superhero before a big job interview would bag you the role, or that sleeping longer was actually a path to maximum productivity?¹ What if it were that simple?

These questions, and purported answers, are the basis of what journalist Jesse Singal refers to as “Primeworld”—the land of seemingly quick fixes. He critiques this TED Talk–inspired concept that people’s behavior is driven, and alterable, by subtle forces. For example, psychologists have found that holding a warm beverage makes people more likely to behave warmly toward others. The logic metastasizes from there: With a nice cup of hot cocoa warming us up, who would remember what the latest internationa...