[HN Gopher] Hobson's Choice
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Hobson's Choice
Author : jackallis
Score : 57 points
Date : 2023-05-11 19:24 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
| kelseyfrog wrote:
| As a parent, you can get about a six months to a year with
| Hobson's choice before your kids start to catch on. But in that
| time, it's glorious.
|
| The positive side effect is that afterwards, they've gained the
| critical thinking skill of choice framing critique. ie: they are
| keen to reject ill-posed choices and offer their own options when
| the given choices are substandard - a skill , frankly, more
| people could use.
| vecter wrote:
| This is interesting. Can you share some practical examples of
| Hobson's choices that you gave your children?
| bentcorner wrote:
| "You can eat what we made for dinner or not have dinner at
| all"
|
| It's important as a parent to be able to follow up on both
| options.
|
| Once your kids get older you can adjust (because you can
| explain the why and reason with your kids).
| [deleted]
| jeffwass wrote:
| I've found much leverage by giving a choice to my kids in an
| orthogonal dimension.
|
| Eg : "I don't want to eat broccoli with dinner!"
|
| "Well, would you rather eat it on the pink plate or the blue
| plate?"
|
| Maybe I'm missing something or likely I'm diverging from the
| actual Hobson's choice paradigm, but the Take-It-Or-Leave-It
| example in the article is clearly not a choice (that's the
| point presumably). But letting my kid choose the color plate to
| eat the broccoli is a real choice although inconsequential to
| the act of eating broccoli itself.
| hackeraccount wrote:
| People romanticize being a kid. I hated it. Adults were
| constantly giving you the illusion of choice.
|
| You want A or B?
|
| I want B.
|
| Are you sure you don't want A?
|
| Yup. Definitely B.
|
| Here's A. I'm happy you made the right decision.
|
| And that's how it was. They'd let you pretend and then the
| worst part was they would force you to be complicit after the
| fact. And let's be honest I would have totally been a
| responsible dirt bike owner. Maybe.
| chrismcb wrote:
| That isn't the illusion of choice. The illusion is giving
| you a choice and getting you to choose the one they want
| you to choose. In your case they asked you want you wanted,
| then ignored you.
| kaolabear wrote:
| My parents gave me the choice between two jackets when I did
| not want to wear one. I remember that I found it unfair to
| give me this choice, but I wasn't able to articulate that at
| this point. It might work for the parent, but it also has
| side effects, because the child knows it is being tricked.
| jeffwass wrote:
| It's not about tricking the child, it's about helping them
| manage their non-negotiable task by giving them some
| choice(s).
| kelseyfrog wrote:
| Do you often find yourself rejecting ill-poised choices in
| adulthood?
| fshbbdssbbgdd wrote:
| When a website asks me if I want to pay $10 a month or
| save $20 by prepaying $100 for a year.
|
| When my job gives me the choice of a drop in compensation
| when my stock grant expires, or earning that promotion to
| get raise.
| ggm wrote:
| The 1954 film by David Lean is fantastic. Beautifully shot, great
| cast. Charles Laughton, John Mills Brenda de Banzie.
| mellosouls wrote:
| I came here to note that, an utterly charming film, with the
| terrific classical actor Laughton following it with his sole
| movie as director, the haunting, beautiful and unique _Night of
| the Hunter_ which I 'm sure must also have some fans here.
| ftxbro wrote:
| This reminds me of a throwaway example someone was using while
| they were envisioning a scenario of AI manipulating people, like
| the AI can manipulate us as easily as a parent asking a three
| year old if they want the asparagus or the brussel sprouts. I
| forget where I saw it and I failed at googling it but I thought
| it was funny.
| nradov wrote:
| My children were never so easily manipulated. The people who
| make up those examples never had kids.
| cancerhacker wrote:
| TIL, Discworld trivia connection: In "Going Postal", the
| protagonist obtains his horse from "Hobson's Livery Stable". (gnu
| terry pratchett)
| robertlagrant wrote:
| Just went and checked that PreviousCorp still serves X-Clacks-
| Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett on its production sites. Hooray!
| roflyear wrote:
| Poor man, when there was a very valid reason for doing what he
| did!
|
| "Hobson soon discovered that his fastest horses were the most
| popular, and thus overworked. So as not to exhaust them, he
| established a strict rotation system, allowing customers to rent
| only the next horse in line.
|
| This policy, "this one or none" ("take it or leave it"), has come
| to be known as "Hobson's choice". It is not an absence of choice,
| rather choosing one thing or nothing."
| hinkley wrote:
| Discovers queuing theory, but is remembered for "my way or the
| highway"
| [deleted]
| scottrogers86 wrote:
| Also a nice rum bar in SF.
| fanf2 wrote:
| If you come to Cambridge you can see Hobson's Conduit, which
| supplied fresh water to the city, and still flows alongside some
| of the city centre roads to this day.
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(page generated 2023-05-11 23:01 UTC)