ILN EP 88: Buridan's Ass

Published: May 20, 2019, 2 a.m.

Pat was feeling juvenile so he forces Ben to teach him about the classic paradox/thought experiment Buridan's Ass, entirely because it has the word "ass" in it. Ben obliges and the duo explore the implications of a donkey chained between two identical bails of hay, each placed equal distances away from him. Which one should the donkey choose if they have no compelling differences? How much does rationality actually influence our decisions? This question was first posed by medieval French philosopher & all-around ho Jean Buridan. When confounding our understanding of free will and rationality, we was out sleeping with other people's wives and pissing off the King of France. What an ass!