Which one of the above line is bigger?
Before answering this question. Let me tell you a story. Once there were a male butterfly and female butterfly passing through some city. Male butterfly told female butterfly, "You know with one blow I can destroy this building". A wise man was standing there. Upon hearing the remarks of male butterfly, he whispered in his ear "What nonsense how can you destroy this gigantic building with one blow". Male butterfly responded I am just trying to influence my girlfriend. Wise man smiled and left away. Female butterfly asked male butterfly, "What did wise man say to you"? He replied wise man said "Please don't destroy this building". Female butterfly happily agreed by thinking that his boyfriend is very powerful.
You might be thinking that how crazy the female butterfly is. She accepted the statements of her boyfriend without thinking about them. Most of think we are very smart and rational creatures but actually we aren't. Same happens with us in above question.
Most of us answer that the second line is bigger but actually both are same. Even if you encounter this problem before and know its answer still intuitively it seems 2nd line is bigger. Why do we make this error? It's answer will be given by Law of Least Effort.
According to the Law of Least Effort, if there is more than one way of doing the same thing we usually gravitate towards the one which takes least amount of effort.
This is true from evolutionary perspective also. When we lived in jungle and want to move from place A to place B. If there are multiple paths to go from Place A to Place B we take the one which takes least amount of effort.Why? Because our energy is limited. We take necessary steps to save it as much as possible. Genes which we have today is passed down to us from millions of years of evolution. Evolution supports the law of least effort because of which our effort should be in consistent with it.
In Thinking Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize winner psychologist Daniel Kanheman divide the brain into two parts, System 1(Male butterfly) and System 2(female butterfly). System 1 is very fast where as System 2 is very slow(deliberate thinker). What's the result of 2*4 and 39*47? Answer to first question comes to our mind within seconds which is an example of System 1. The answer of 2nd question doesn't come to our mind immediately because we need to compute the intermediate results in our head, doing multiplication and adding them requires more effort which is an example of System 2.
How do we take decisions in our life? System 1 gives an intuitive answer or suggestion to System 2. Because of law of least effort we have lazy System 2 which gives an endorsement to the suggestions given by System 1 and required action is taken.
That's the reason we gave wrong answer to above question. System 1(Male Butterfly) gives a suggestion to System 2(Female butterfly) that 2nd line is bigger. Our lazy System 2 gives an endorsement to it. Hence we gave an answer that 2nd line is bigger.
Let's look at another example.
The prize of a bat and ball is Rs 1.10. The prize of a bat is one more than the prize of a ball. What is the prize of a ball?
More than 50% students at Harvard, MIT and Princeton gave an intuitive incorrect answer. At less selective universities, the rate of demonstrable failure to check was in excess of 80%. The correct answer is 0.05 not 0.10. How?
X + Y = 1.10 ---------------(1)
X - Y = 1 ---------------(2)
By solving above equations, we found that X (price of a ball) = 0.05
Impulses & Intuitions arise in ourselves if endorsed leads to voluntary actions and beliefs. Impulses & Intuitions are refined by an evolution which might be wrong sometimes. So double check them to avoid taking incorrect action & the formation of wrong beliefs.
While taking high stake decisions don't rely on intuitive answers which can be wrong sometimes. Invoke your System 2, check your assumptions then take the decision.
Why be concerned with gossip? In Thinking Fast and Slow, Kanheman wrote because it's much easier, as well as far more enjoyable, to identify and label the mistakes of others than to recognize our own. Questioning what we believe and want is difficult at the best of times, and especially difficult when we most need to it, but we can benefit from the informed opinion of others. Many of us spontaneously anticipate how friends and colleagues will evaluate our choices, the quality and content of these anticipated judgement therefore matters. The expectation of intelligent gossip is a powerful motive for serious self-criticism, more powerful than New Year resolutions to improve one's decision making at work and at home.
Let's see how can we use Law of Least Effort practically in our day to day life.
Habits
We are what we repeatedly do. In other words we are the product of our habits. As we are learning a new skill more and more neurons are involved to perform a skill. Once neural circuitry is developed even minute cue is enough to trigger our behavior. If someone has to develop a good habit he has to make it as easy as possible. Law of Least Effort play an important role here, we need to reduce as many steps as possible to produce our desired behavior.
Let's say if you want to develop the habit of Journaling. Keep your diary under the pillow. As you wake up write down the three important thing you want to do today. It'll start your day in pro-active mode. It is known as habit stacking. If you are alive you have to wake up and then the habit of journaling is stacked over the habit of waking up. Similarly, if you want to improve your physical health after brushing your teeth drink one glass of water. Again drinking one glass of water is stacked over brushing your teeth. These are very small steps but as time went by habits will compound and start showing its results.
Invert the Law of Least Effort it becomes the Law of Most Effort. We can use it get rid of bad habits. How? Add as many steps as possible in your habit which you want to prevent.
Let's say if you are playing too many video games on your mobile phone. After playing the video game uninstall it from your phone. Why? Because if you start craving again now you have added more steps to prevent your behavior. To play again you need to perform the following steps.
Turn on your mobile data----> Go to play store----> Install game-----> Play.
According to Law of Least Effort we are lazy creatures and addition of more steps will prevent our bad behavior.
Modern struggle is against weaponized addiction. Naval Ravikant
Relationships
We are born with a pessimistic attitude. This is true from evolutionary perspective.
Suppose two persons (A and B) were going through the forest. A was optimistic and B was pessimistic. As they were passing through it, they heard a strange sound in nearby bushes. B thought it might be possible that a predator is hiding in the bushes and it's unsafe to go this way but A is optimistic and argued that it was because of wind so it's a safe path. Pessimistic turned back and optimistic continued his journey. If pessimistic is correct 1 out of 100 times he would have saved himself while the optimistic one would become the food for predators. Genes which are passed down to us from million of years of evolution are in consistent with pessimistic attitude. Hence we are born pessimistic.
Now time has changed we no longer live in forest and have to fear from predators but our thinking remains same. If someone did something which is no longer aligned to our best interest. We think it more negatively because according to the Law of Least Effort our default state is pessimistic. We are lazy creatures and to think positively effort is needed which is against the Law of Least Effort. Hence we ruin our relations with our loved ones.
To counter it we need to use the Hanlon's Razor which says " Never attribute malice to those which can be explained by some other reasons". Next time if you caught yourself in such situations use Hanlon's Razor and foster deep and meaningful relationships with your loved ones.
The quality of one's life can be determined by the deep and loving relationships with others.
Business
In Business world we want to maximize our profit with least amount of work. Long back if someone wanted to watch a movie he had to go to theater. With the development of new technology Television came in market. As time went by Vcr came now we no longer has to go to theater to watch a movie. We can watch any movie at our own homes. With the advent of the internet we no longer need Tv we can watch any movie on our smart phones provided if we have subscription of Netflix, Hotstar etc. Do you see any pattern? As technology developed user's effort reduced to a great extent to buy any product. In modern world we are just one click away to purchase any product. It seems as if Business is never ending quest to deliver the same result in an easier manner.
In an article published in New Yorker titled "Better all the Time," James Suroweicki writes:
Japanese firms emphasized what came to be known as lean production, relentlessly looking to remove waste of all kinds from the production process, so workers didn't have to waste time twisting and turning to each their tools. The results were the Japanese factories were more efficient and Japanese products were more reliable than American ones. In 1974 service calls for American made color Televisions were five times as common as for Japanese Televisions. By 1979, it took American workers three times to assemble their sets.
In Atomic Habits, James Clear wrote, I like to refer this strategy as addition by subtraction. The phrase addition by subtraction is also used by teams and businesses to describe removing people from a group in order to make the team stronger overall. The Japanese companies looked for every point of friction in the manufacturing process and eliminated it. As they subtracted wasted effort, they added customers and revenue. Similarly, when we remove the points of friction that sap our time and energy, we can achieve more with less effort. This is one reason tidying can feel so good: we are simultaneously moving forward and lightening the cognitive load our environment places on us.
Food Production
In Guns, Germs and Steel, Jarred Diamond made a fantastic observation. The dominant axis for some countries is from North to South while for others it's West to East. You might be thinking that what axis has to do with food production?
In above map America and Africa's has dominant axis is from North to South while for Europe and Asia dominant axis is from West to East. The area covering same latitude will experience same climate, rainfall, sunlight and seasons. For farmers if an area experience same climate it's easier for them to stretch their farm from west to east rather than North to South where climate differs significantly. Because of this reason European and Asian countries had grown more crops than American and African countries. More crops fed more population which leads to the rapid growth of population. With more population these countries will be able to build stronger armies and were better equipped to develop new technologies. The changes started out small but over time as they compounded gave substantial advantage to European and Eastern countries.
In this scenario, Farmers also followed the Law of Least Effort. They wanted to produce the maximum amount of food production with least amount of effort. Stretching the farm form West to East is easier than North to South. The countries whose dominant axis is from West to East gained advantages over the countries whose dominant axis is from North to South.
Computer Science
In Computer Science, Law of Least Effort can be translated as Law of Least time and Space. Whenever a Computer Scientist is solving a problem, he has to solve in a minimum time and space. Why? If a computer completes an operation in minimum time,then the remaining time can be utilized to compute other operations which in turn increase its efficiency.
Conclusion: Law of Least Effort is very useful tool which helps us in solving problems across multiple domains. Sometimes it is working for us while in other times it is working against us. An in depth understanding of this law will help us in fostering good relations, developing better habits and making decisions which will improve the quality of our lives.
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