Thinking Out LoudTuesday afternoons are a time of high stakes bin-chess. My neighbours and I often forget whether it’s a yellow (recycling) or a green (green waste) bin week. Do I move early, grasping for glory as a cul-de-sac leader but risking public failure? Or do I wait for someone else to make the first move, hoping they get it right?
On bin day this week I remembered that I had mowed the lawn and put out the green bin last week, making this a yellow-bin week. However, I stepped outside astonished to see a line of green bins. How could they all be wrong? Could they have been misled by a reckless first-mover? Against all protocol and conventional wisdom – like Caesar crossing the Rubicon – I courageously marched out my yellow bin amid a sea of green lids.
I walked out later to the sight of yellow bins lining the street (with all green bins having been sheepishly withdrawn) – each like a trophy testifying to my courage. I’m trying to work out how to add this moment to my LinkedIn profile.
Trying to find timeless wisdom in bin-collection may seem far-fetched, but all first principles hold true in the tiny and the big things. In an age of volatility and outrage, following the herd doesn’t always work. The possibility that we might be wrong is always more real than our instincts concede.
On both the left and the right, assumptions are often made that connect the apparent agreement of our tribes with the infallible righteousness of our opinions. We are dogmatically critical of the dogmatism of our dissenters. Our algorithm-driven digital eco-systems stigmatise our rivals, demonise our dissidents and reinforce our biases. We need to be careful. Our echo-chambers – like our garbage bin instincts – can be wrong.
This Thinking Out Loud was first published on Facebook.