Cunningham's Law
The fastest way to the right answer is the wrong answer
Hello and Happy New Year to you all!
Thank you for still being subscribers to Food for Thought - I greatly enjoyed writing this newsletter but eventually found it too hard to write every week as work and life became busier than anticipated.
I do miss writing - and so I am making a return, with a simpler format.
In each post (the frequency of which is still TBD) - I will share:
One idea/topic that I have come across and found interesting (today’s being Cunningham’s Law)
A small ‘recommendation zone’ with links to books/articles/videos etc that I am currently enjoying
One quote to ponder
Cunningham’s Law
Cunningham’s Law goes as follows:
The best way to get to a right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question, but to post a wrong answer, and then get corrected
The law is named after Ward Cunningham, the pioneering computer programmer who developed the first Wiki site (WikiWikiWeb).
You will likely have experienced this Law to some degree. If you have ever posted a YouTube comment with an unpopular opinion or forwarded a WhatsApp that turned out to be fake, I am sure that you would have quickly received a flurry of messages telling you how and why you are wrong.
When you think about it - this is weird - as the hard incentives don’t change. It’s not like you get paid for correcting someone, and you likely spend just as much time correcting someone as you would answering a question.
So why does this happen? I think there are two ways of looking at it.
The more optimistic way is that we don’t like to see misinformation online and are motivated to stamp it out for the sake of others.
The more cynical (and likely more accurate) way of looking at it is that we receive more pleasure from correcting other people than we do from helping them.
I have found a weaker form of Cunningham’s Law to also be applicable in the workplace.
In my experience, if I am ever brainstorming ideas with colleagues or clients, the worst thing to do is go into a meeting with a question and a blank page. This generally leads to silence, particularly in large groups where people might be too intimidated to speak up.
Instead, I jot down 3-4 of my own suggested answers. Even if these ideas are wildly wrong, they will start a conversation (even if that conversation is them telling me that I’m wrong).
Recommendation zone
📖 A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
📖 The Moth by assorted
One quote to ponder
“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.”
- Brad Meltzer
Loved it!