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Are You As Indecisive as Buridan’s Donkey?
In the 14th century French countryside, a man named Jean Buridan owned a donkey his children had affectionately named Alain. Wanting the very best for Alain — to keep his children happy and Alain working hard on their small farm — Jean brought Alain to two identical piles of hay. Jean left Alain there, precisely between the two piles of hay, and went about his work.
Jean hooked his wagon of goods to the stronger mules he used to move his wares from town to town and left without giving Alain another thought. Upon his return some days later, Jean found Alain’s lifeless corpse between the two piles of hay.
You see, Alain had no rational basis for choosing one pile over the other, so there he stood until indecision caused him to starve.
As far as I know, there’s no truth to the story of Buridan’s Donkey. The paradox highlights the problems of decision-making when faced with perfectly balanced (or not) choices. It critiques the idea that purely rational beings would always act optimally. That is, when faced with two apparently equal choices, just pick one.
Seems simple, right?
Not so much.
Why is it that so many of us, even when faced with decisions that both likely have favorable outcomes, get stuck in indecision? We reach the figurative fork in the road and stay stuck, afraid to make the wrong choice.
The Problem of Indecision
For fifteen years, I’ve talked about starting my own business. Fifteen years is a long time. I talked about it with family and friends so often that they stopped believing it would ever happen.
In June 2024, I was given a wonderful opportunity to start my software development company. But it wasn’t until a terrible experience with my boss in November that I finally made the leap. I’d had a few bad experiences with my boss before, but the one in November gave me the anger and courage to move forward.
Looking back is tricky. It makes us wonder, “What if things had been different?” It’s a bit like the grandfather paradox in time travel — if I could go back and change the past, would I really get the outcome I wanted? Or would I end up wishing I’d stuck with the path I originally took?
