Empedocles' Dog
Taleb suggests that long-lived technologies and practices may fit enduring human habits in ways that analysis does not fully explain. He uses the possibly apocryphal story of Empedocles’ dog returning to one tile as an analogy.
THE IDEA
In Aristotle’s Magna Moralia, there is a possibly apocryphal story about Empedocles, the pre-Socratic philosopher, who was asked why a dog prefers to always sleep on the same tile. His answer was that there had to be some likeness between the dog and that tile. (Actually the story might be even twice as apocryphal since we don’t know if Magna Moralia was actually written by Aristotle himself.)
Consider the match between the dog and the tile. A natural, biological, explainable or nonexplainable match, confirmed by long series of recurrent frequentation—in place of rationalism, just consider the history of it.
Which brings me to the conclusion of our exercise in prophecy.
I surmise that those human technologies such as writing and reading that have survived are like the tile to the dog, a match between natural friends, because they correspond to something deep in our nature.
Every time I hear someone trying to make a comparison between a book and an e-reader, or something ancient and a new technology, “opinions” pop up, as if reality cared about opinions and narratives. There are secrets to our world that only practice can reveal, and no opinion or analysis will ever capture in full.
This secret property is, of course, revealed through time, and, thankfully, only through time.
When to use it
Deciding whether to adopt a new technology: consider if it has a natural match to human behavior.
Evaluating the staying power of social media platforms.
Understanding why certain habits are hard to break.
In product design, creating features that feel 'natural' based on repeated use.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Dog and Tile
In the possibly apocryphal story, Empedocles explains a dog’s repeated preference for one tile as a likeness between the dog and that place. Taleb uses the story as an analogy, not a demonstrated causal explanation.
Books vs E-readers
The author argues that the persistence of reading and writing is like the tile to the dog, a natural match that opinions cannot capture.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
What technologies or practices in your life have persisted despite new alternatives? Can you identify a 'likeness' between them and human nature?
How might the concept of Empedocles' Dog help you evaluate the longevity of a current trend?
Are there any decisions you make based on repeated experience rather than rational analysis?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Antifragile (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)