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January 28, 2004

Choose to read this

Reason Magazine (reason.com) has an interesting article, Multitudes In the Valley of Decision about too many choices. It seems to suggest that when there are too many choices, sometimes the choice is not to choose at all. We all want choices, but can you have too many choices? How would we rationally pull back from this affluenza of unlimited options?

They cite an example of people being offered 6 different jams to try and 30% of those people bought one of them with a $1 off coupon. When they were offered the same coupon after being 26 different jams to sample, only 3% bought a jam.

So how does this translate into the broader society? In my talks, I suggest that there is absolutely nothing in the life of a young adult that isn't a choice now. They know they can choose to change their parents, siblings, race, gender, religion, sexual preference, friends, style, school, career, city, interests, lifestyle, anything. Does that same choice overload presented in the article translate into these types of things? How much of this is the result of traditions not being able to defend themselves?

As well, there's a major part of the economy that's ready to tell you that no matter which choice you've made, it's wrong. Whatever you've chosen, chances are there's an upgrade out there that you'd obviously be a fool to miss out on.

How does a young person develop a sense of satisfaction when there's not much out there to reinforce that the choice made is correct and continual barrages that tell you to choose something else?

I once read an article about the sixties and the youth revolt, when they questioned everything and eventually our parents (and the culture) went along with what they demanded. The article concluded that what we had thought was our parents wisdom was actually their exhaustion.

How much of modernity is the result of seeing the wisdom in new ideas and how much the result of exhaustion in defending the old ones? How many people do you know who either only like new things or only like old things?

Progress is not being open to new things and rejecting old things. It is when we have the ability to choose between them.

Posted by dmzach

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