With all my ramblings on decision-making and theorising, i suppose what can one actualy do in practice?
I’ve spoken a little about the importance of timing and not being paralysed. Often times, waiting can be a dangerous decision.
I try, where I’m able to, to frame certain decisions as either Maximising or Satisficing. Here are some examples.
Maximising
Maximising entails finding the best damn deal accessible at the time. Online shopping comes to mind. Often, for commoditised services, many factors are indeed equal, and the only variable to decide on is price.
So what does one do? Find the best damn price (with a time limit probably, best not to scrape the world for this)
Some other areas, like fitness in my personal case, I approach with a Maximisation and efficiency mentality. If one had to do one effective chest workout for the rest of my life, Bench presses seem to be widely accepted as one of the better ones.
So what does one do? I try to do bench presses (using dumb bells), due to availability, all the time.
Satisficing
In other circumstances, the world presents us with an infinitude of choices, far beyond what our human brains were designed to do. Too many variables, too tough to make a decision.
Some examples are choosing the best house to buy (huge investment!) or even in a slightly calculative way, relationships (don’t take my word for it, I’m clearly trying to figure out this part of my life too). In practice, I like to affix top 3 criteria (often thought out, and principled), and then trust my gutfeel on it.
In my case of a house, it was a function of:
- Me seeing myself as living there, forever (accounting for family, etc)
- Good rental value and close to a strong renter area (to provide flexibility, if I were to move)
- A Minimum size
Three boxes ticked within budget? Lets go!
Satisficing in the real world: Right Tech-ing, not High Tech-ing
Another case study in Satisficing is my view of the technological competencies of the US vs China.
I label these as Right tech-ing vs High tech-ing in an age of diminishing innovation, as things commoditise over time.
“Right tech-ing” (I’d totally like to coin this word) relates to the level of technology that has the greatest adoption and hence impact, whereas high tech-ing refers to having the best cutting edge technology (that is often too expensive to fully deploy). I see parallels between high tech-ing and over-engineering. Great science and development, little impact.
I note the relentless pace as semiconductor chips get smaller and samller - from 10nm to 3nm, and yet, I honestly don’t believe in the need for 3nm chips for certain uses cases like watches…I think there are physical and use case limits to the amount of computing power crammed into a piece of electronics
Similarly, the US and other western countries have the best damn anti tank launchers, but the good ol Russian made RPG has seen a lot of action due to its simplicity and cost. Which has had a larger impact on the world? RPGs are perhaps, satisfactory, for its time.