In the final paragraph of this post, I made a comment about the danger of using comparisons as a means of understanding. I feel this is a far easier point to state than to put into practice so I thought I would commit a few more sentences to the idea today.
The comparison problem I reference in the chess context has to do with the point value system. This assigns pieces a value based on the number of pawns a piece is ‘worth’ – since a rook is worth five points, it can be safely exchanged for five pawns. This is all well and good in the abstract and gives players and onlookers a simple way to understand which side has the better set of pieces in a given position.
However, the system never accounts for how position, time, or a host of other factors might change the relative value between a rook and a set of five pawns. It also fails to acknowledge how one set of five pawns will almost always have a different worth than another set of five pawns even though the point value system assigns them equal worth. To borrow an expression I believe I’ve used around here before, the point value system applies to every situation yet describes no situation.
The danger of relying on comparisons is how it enables generalizations to stand in for specifications. A person prone to making too many comparisons will eventually stop thinking about the nuances of a situation and instead rely on blanket terms, clichés, or easily derived measurements to make a value determination. This often leads to bizarre forms of assessment that account for every quality except those most relevant to determining the value of what is being measured.
The way around this problem is to first determine what the most relevant qualities are and then measure those qualities in absolute rather than relative terms. It sounds really simple but I see people make such mistakes all the time. I have a common example of this mistake that I observe every year in Boston.
When the winter rolls around, I see a lot of new winter coats. And yet, inevitably, I find myself among people who become too cold when we spend more than a few minutes outside. These people, reader, should know better – they are usually lifelong New Englanders. So, how does this happen?
I think ‘comparison shopping’ is one possible culprit. A person who buys a coat thinking this is warmer than my last coat without every really asking is this coat warm enough? will end up with a warmer coat but not necessarily a warm enough coat. When a cold day rolls around, this person will complain to me and then resolve to solve the problem next year by purchasing a coat that is even warmer than the current coat. The following winter, the same incident replays itself and they resolve to buy another new coat. It’s like the logic of building an even bigger wall in order to keep out what the previous wall… ah, never mind.
Another possible culprit is ‘comparison dressing’. This is like the above example with a twist – instead of comparing possible purchases, the comparisons are made within the wardrobe. This is kind of like the ‘Sunday best’ logic – since it’s cold, wear the warmest coat. But again… is the warmest coat warm enough?
The comparison habit is going to be a tough one to break because the default setting at all stages of life is to think in terms of comparisons. The idea is drilled into a little kid’s head from the earliest possible age with things like spelling bees and yearbook superlatives. As kids become adults, they get accepted into colleges and offered jobs when they are better than the other candidates, not when they are simply better than the required standard. I can confirm for you, reader, that early adulthood can easily be a series of comparisons – by all accounts, this holds true for the later years, as well.
Perhaps, reader, you are wondering – do I think too much in terms of comparisons? I’ll pose a simple question to you – how often do you use the word best? In a lot of ways, best is the most corrosive word we use. Best means a comparison against everything. It is a powerful word because ‘best’ has the ability to turn anything cooperative into a matter of competition.
The first step to stop thinking in terms of comparisons is to expel the word ‘best’ from the vocabulary. I would recommend using a word like ‘enough’ instead. Of course, there is no… best... word to use in order to alter an ingrained thought pattern with vocabulary. But I think ‘enough’ is a good start. Not only does it encourage thinking in absolute rather than relative terms, it also reframes the competitive into the cooperative because what I decide I have enough of can be leftover for someone else who might need it later.
