I was sitting in my first economics lecture in college and the professor laid out the three assumptions we’d be making throughout our semester of study. One of those assumptions was that people are rational and they will always act in their self-interest.
Stop. Think about all of the stupid choices you make on a daily or weekly basis—overeating or eating diabolically unhealthy foods, logging zero minutes of exercise, sleeping four hours, and so on.
In this economics course, and in the predominant macroeconomic theories that guide federal and state government decision making, we were instructed to assume all people are rational. To drive this point home, the equation looks like this:
Irrational Decision + Irrational Decision = Rational Society
Many economists are perfectly ok with this perplexing assumption. It removes a whole bunch of noise, so they can present clean and understandable theories that can be put into practice.
I hope your head is spinning with questions that start with "But..."
Gobsmacked by such an irrational assumption (see what I did there?) as a student, once I decided to pursue an Economics degree, I was in it for the paper and little else.
I attended 10-20% of my lectures during my last two years and focused my attention and effort on things that made more sense to me—like helping run a university food pantry, driving drunk peers home, and leading volunteer trips.
In my “extracurriculars,” complexity—the exact thing an assumption like “all people are rational” is trying to avoid—was always present.
Every client served at the pantry had a unique lived experience that required adaptation to best serve their needs.
Every peer I drove home after a night out on the town and every partner volunteer I spent 5+ hours in the car with led to communication and behavioral adjustments of my own to keep things running smoothly.
Every new domestic and international volunteer experience led to engaging with a new community and group of volunteers that demanded behind-the-scenes problem-solving.
In none of those experiences was there a “follow this template and everything will be smooth sailing” scenario. It wasn't until adaptation became a skill that things felt “simple” or at least “simpler.”
Closing the economics loop on a hopeful note, there is an entire discipline of economics that was born in the 1970s called behavioral economics. Some rebels decided to throw this rationality assumption away and look at what happens if:
Irrational Decision + Irrational Decision = Irrational Society
They went straight for complexity’s jugular and have been making groundbreaking discoveries ever since. By addressing complexity head-on, they arrived at what James Clear calls “profound simplicity.” And that turns us to the final ground rule for the Enuff experience.
Complexity Comes Before Simplicity
It’s easy to remember past choices that led to nearly instant regret. Sometimes those regrets are born from a lack of information (another topic for another time), but many times they are born from a short-term desire that overrules the negative, long(er)-term impacts we are fully aware of.
I have this occur almost daily with sugary foods. When I eat too much sugar, I can feel my heart racing when I try to fall asleep at night. Yet, knowing I’m going to have trouble falling asleep rarely prevents me from binging on sugar.
(By binging, I’m talking, in one day, eating eight cookies, a bowl of ice cream, a bowl of cereal, and a few pieces of candy if there are any lying around... I have a problem.)
To eliminate this habit, I need to sit within the complexity of the problem. I’ve tried going cold turkey, I’ve tried eating fewer sweets, I’ve tried enrolling my partner as the Sweets Czar (telling me when I can and can’t eat sweets). But, none of it has worked—I break the streak, eating less isn’t less enough, and I stop asking for permission and just go for it.
What I need to do is make changes at a much higher level. I need to address the more complex question of my diet—not just a singular issue I’m aware of within it. I tried to go simple first and have left myself with zero progress to show for it.
Examples of choosing simplicity before complexity are a dime a dozen. And, if you’re anything like me and wonder why the world seems so out of alignment so often, it is this choice that can act as a clear signal.
Avoiding complexity forces us into a perpetual state of ignorance, and worse, overconfidence (i.e. The Dunning-Kruger effect) in our opinions and the “solutions” we create.
What so often drives us away from making the rational, “best choice” is the temptation of the “easy” one. When “easy” is defined as effortless, efficient, low chance of failure, and comfortable, the habits we’ve already established for ourselves will become the default. And, because those habits were built inside a misaligned notion of “easy,” we pile up on irrational choice making on the daily.
To take a bold step in realigning ourselves and our communities, swimming in complexity is a must.
It’s important to note what this means for your general reading experience moving forward. “Profound simplicity” doesn’t happen overnight. So, each new post will have a lot of unanswered questions. Each new topic might be covered for multiple weeks or at the very least will be revisited in a rotating cycle of topics. We’ll see where things go from here, but know that it will be a “behind-the-scenes” type of reading experience rather than a “here are the answers” type of reading experience. Let’s get muddy.