We’re going to do a thought experiment called Buridan’s Ass. Here’s how it works:
Imagine a donkey standing exactly halfway between two identical piles of hay. The donkey is perfectly rational — it will only move toward something if there’s a good reason to choose it.
Both piles are the same size, same distance away, equally fresh. There is absolutely no reason to prefer one over the other.
What happens to the donkey?
Stand up if you think the donkey would choose one pile and eat.
Stay seated if you think it would starve, unable to decide.
This sounds silly, but we face this all the time. When two options are equally good, how do we choose?
Is it rational to just pick randomly? Or is there always some reason, even if we don’t notice it?
Have you ever been stuck because you couldn’t choose between two equal options?
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