[HN Gopher] Hobson's Choice ___________________________________________________________________ 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. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-05-11 23:01 UTC)