More Ways to be Wrong - Nov 5 2025

 

More Ways to be Wrong

Nov 5 2025



I long for a return to simplicity.

Because in this age of abundance

we are easily overwhelmed 

by too much choice;

a little more austerity

wouldn't hurt.

After all, you can fear choosing wrong.

You can find yourself paralyzed

by indecision.

And you can be baffled by all the gobbledygook;

how the smart young engineers

and bright-eyed techno-optimists

live on a planet

light years from ours,

making up words

we don’t understand,

inventing complexity

regular people don’t need

or have ever imagined they would. 

They thought more choice

would make us happy.

But as for me, I’d rather not

have more ways to be wrong.

So instead, In the closet 

all the hangers are hung

with black turtlenecks

and black denim pants.

There is one standard font,

no extra options,

and coffee that comes

in a single brand.

A world

with a charging cord that lasts,

and a tried and true model

that’s good enough.

Henry Ford bragged 

you could buy a car

in any colour you want

as long as it was black;

now that’s my idea

of keeping life simple

and the mind mercifully clear.

There can be no regrets

when it’s take it or do without.

When there’s no fork in the road

that might lead you down the garden path,

only to find

there’s no going back.

No new and improved

you have to have,

no endless selections

you don’t understand.

I live an analogue life

in the slow lane.

Am of an age

when shiny gewgaws

and newness for its own sake

have little appeal. 

I am a simple man

and would rather keep it that way.

This has been called “the paradox of choice”. 

It seems intuitive that more choice would make us happier. But apparently not. Crowd the supermarket shelf with more kinds of soup, and instead of selling more, you sell less:  people choose to move on, apparently because they fear making the wrong choice. This is an example of loss aversion: when there’s are more ways to be wrong, and when being wrong feels worse than simply not choosing, people won’t risk it. The generic chicken soup is good enough.

Drop down a list of options on your laptop and you’ll know exactly what I mean. Just try going down the rabbit hole of “advanced options” and it will become even more obvious. Then they trap us with obsolescence, so we have to upgrade anyway.

Steve Jobs wore a uniform so he wouldn’t have to think about getting dressed:  black turtleneck, black pants. Obama had a lot on his mind (the current President, not so much!), so all he left himself to do each morning was choose between one blue suit and one black (or something like that). The new and improved model of Subaru is all touch screen, which is very futuristic and technologically advanced, yet way harder to use and still keep your eyes on the road compared to my good old analogue model with the modest screen and chunky dials. No haptic feedback. So it looks as if I’ll be driving my old car until it dies.

We’re destroying the planet trying to make ourselves even richer, then frantically try to spend all that extra wealth not just on more decadence and extravagance — that make us no more happy — but also on more complexity and choice — that make us even less. So as I said, a little more austerity wouldn’t hurt!