Philosophical homeopathy and neat coincidences
Baldur Fróði blowing out his four birthday candles. Dash’s token resistance proves futile.
This, apparently, is Fredkin’s paradox:
The more equally attractive two alternatives seem, the harder it can be to choose between them — no matter that, to the same degree, the choice can only matter less.
This, along with a million other human quirks, is an effect worth identifying in oneself in order to catch it and work around it, etc., etc., blah blah. And the observation I have just presented was an example of what we might call “philosophical homeopathy” … real wisdom, but in very small doses.
It was also an example of an odd effect I’m noticing lately, wherein I discover a new idea in an amusingly appropriate context. Let me explain:
I didn’t get much work done today (a visit by piano tuner guy in the morning; a café chat with a former student on his to-PhD-or-not-to-PhD dilemma; my nephew‘s 4th birthday party; babysitting; etc.), so I was trying to decide whether to go to work and get some work done before bed, or go straight to bed and get up really early to go to work.
These two options made just about the same amount of sense … so instead of choosing one, I spent the evening reading stuff, discovering Fredkin’s paradox, and blogging about it. In doing so, I unconsciously chose an implicit third option, probably inferior to the two options I couldn’t choose between.
I just demonstrated Fredkin’s paradox to myself by example — in the very act of spending my time stumbling across Fredkin’s paradox. Neato!
Now was this the good kind or the bad kind?