TIL about Fredkin’s paradox. “With this kind of decision, what Fredkin’s paradox tells us is if it’s very difficult to decide, it’s probably because the alternatives are equivalent, and therefore it doesn’t matter which one you choose.”
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Thank you for this! Great for everyday life, although in the video’s example where you’re dealing with Coke, where hes deciding between 2 seemingly equal things, one is going to have at-least a 0.01% affect on sales which adds up to a lot of lost $$s if you choose the wrong one. But I guess theres no way to know which is which, so it doesn’t matter and I think embracing that unknown is important to remember when you trick yourself out of this paradox in big life decisions (do we buy house A or house B?!)
Back in the US I would constantly debate which of two routes to take home, going so far as to start a timer on my phone to determine which was fastest but never being sure I was being properly scientific about it. One day I realized, whichever was truly fastest, the difference was probably something like 10-15 seconds. From one moment to the next, my concern about this evaporated.
Years ago, I was taught to address this paradox by flipping a coin. If you're ok with the results of the coin toss, then stick with it. If you're unhappy with it, then choose the other one (turns out you actually had a negative preference).
https://bsky.app/profile/kottke.org/post/3mqkkg6rvb72t
I use this technique often.
This is essentially the approach I take. I'll pick an option at random, them look at the other one, and unless there's a compelling reason to switch I stick with my original choice. I've discovered that in work situations there's a huge value in being the team member who can make a decision when there rest of the team is paralyzed by this paradox!
I wonder if you could cross correlate this paradox with Fitts's law in reference to presented options. The paradox is only true if the options are proximal to each other and the same size. If one is easier than the other to acquire (in terms of cognitive recognition) it will always win. I don't know that that's true, just wondering if there could be a connection
Similar to Burridan's Ass! "Should two courses be judged equal, then the will cannot break the deadlock, all it can do is to suspend judgement until the circumstances change, and the right course of action is clear." The wiki is fascinating and has examples of predecessors, including Aristotle's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buridan%27s_ass
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