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Stephen Fry on binary choices

stephenfry.com

64 pointsgrellas17 comments

I often find myself in agreement with Fry's seemingly incompatible interests. Like his appreciation for the Free Software movement[1] as well as Apple's achievements[2].

[1]: http://www.gnu.org/fry/

[2]: http://www.stephenfry.com/2010/01/28/ipad-about/

C.S.Lewis has had some clever things to say on the topic. There's this brilliant paragraph in Mere Christianity that goes:

"… so many people cannot be brought to realise that when B is better than C, A may be even better than B. They like thinking in terms of good and bad, not of good, better, and best, or bad, worse and worst. They want to know whether you think patriotism a good thing: if you reply that it is, of course, far better than individual selfishness, but that it is inferior to universal charity and should always give way to universal charity when the two conflict, they think you are being evasive."

Think this applies here, too.

Wow, do I know his feeling. I call it 'Coke/Pepsi' binary thinking. The notion that the World is essentially binary, instead of a multi-dimensional varied landscape of gradients.

I often think that the urge to group the world in binary choices are a result of a mind overwhelmed by complexity. There are too many choices, too many things to understand well to see the grey scales. The ability to abstract the complexity into simple choices is a matter of survival.

It is often said that a great commander in a war makes the right choices quickly, but to survive it is often enough to keep making choices. Attack or retreat? Standing still means the enemy has the initiative and this will kill you.

Maybe the ability to abstract complex dilemmas down to Coke/Pepsi choices is a survival tactic which worked well. :)

The musical "Wicked" puts some of this sort of thinking well, and definitely the book on which it was based.

From the song 'Wonderful' - "There are precious few at ease with moral ambiguities, so they act as if they don't exist".

But that thinking starts so early on. Most movies I watch with my 4yr old son now, he'll ask "Is he a baddie", "Is he a goodie".

I hear you. I loved Coke and hated Pepsi. But then Throwback Pepsi comes along and it's like, my mind is blown.

My problem with Pepsi is I am not fond of the taste of Pepto-Bismol.

But then on the whole Coke/Pepsi argument I am more a Dr. Pepper drinker.

Wintergreen mint

I'm reminded of this, written in May, 2007:

http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/TwoAndAHalfMen.html?HN

Interesting article, especially in referencing "The Two Cultures", which I had not encountered before.

Modern "Geek" culture actually seems very adept at bridging that gap.

"You just quoted Family Guy" - I thought you liked The Simpsons

I don't see how this relates to the rest of the examples.

The implication is that if you enjoy Family Guy, you must not like The Simpsons, while his point is that it is perfectly reasonable that one could enjoy both.

The joke I was making is many people are Simpsons purists and say Family Guy is complete crap.

Never lived in the US, but getting an impression that the political system also contributes to this binary syndrome.

When attending a serious dispute, try to throw in

"You\We are both right!" Helps wonders.

Other languages seem to have less binary options too.

I think you are right. I think that an issue here is the assumed "more then others" so the question "Do you like the Beatles?" carries the connotation "Do you like the Beatles more than other bands?" Its a nuance of the language I think rather then an attempt to lock someone into an either or situation.

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