The-Greenman.net

More choice is not all it's cracked up to be. Too many options end up hiding what is good. In our networked culture, it's not more choice that matters, it's less choice.

One of the foundations of our new networked hypersociety is the limitlessness of options. If we want more possibilities, we just have to turn them on. Less choice is not about the lack of possibilities, it's about distributed decision making. I want to make use of the skill and depth of knowledge in my network by outsourcing as much of the thinking as possible to my peers.

I am no expert, well, not to most people in most things. There are some domains in which I am happy with my judgement, but I am the first to admit that my skills are limited. So, why should I not allow someone else to decide for me if they are more equipped to discern the differences between the options?

My favourite coffee shop only has one important menu item, "Roast Of The Day". It's always good. I never order anything else. I want to walk into any shop and say, "give me what is good", and know that I am getting the best value. I am not interested in the cheapest, but I am even less interested in being ripped off. In a networked society, when referrals are the most powerful form of currency you could hope to trade in, any business that sees "Today's Special" as yesterday's leftovers will head rapidly towards it's doom.

As has been the case for a while, ideas that began as software engineering concepts (like open source) are moving into the wider realm. Less Choice is a realworld version of the ideas behind LessCode and LessConfig. Less Choice is also part of the Cheap Culture mindset that promotes experience and culture over financial gain.

More is not enough, but then less may just be good enough.