[lbo-talk] RE: The Gains from variety

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

> (Interesting too, that while choice presents itself as contributing to
quality, in fact, it detracts
> from it in that the more choices there are the less likely it is that
there is a recognized
> standard from which to measure quality.)
> 
> The brain likes choice because what the brain does best is to compare
and to judge, to dwell
> on the more and the better. So when this activity is offered to it, it
delights in it, it affirms

But the brain can easily be deceived by illusory "choice" as for example
in the multiple "choice" tests that are so popular in Amerika, more so
than in any other country.  What is presented here a "choice" is in fact
a very narrow a limited range of options supplied by the testing
authority figures, and nobody is allowed to go beyond that narrow range
on the penalty of failure.  You are verboten to supply an original
answer, even if it does solve the test problem, you must "choose" from
the options that the authorities have given to you.  

That Orwellian concept of "choice" - as professed by one of its founding
fathers Henry Ford who coined the "any color as long as it black" - is
the epitome of the Amerikan brave world - freedom is the "multiple
choice" from the sameness and monotony of mass-marketed crap.

Wojtek