You might have seen in in the bulletins, my little prodder called
The Bathtub Test" (that's a clickable link, if you want to read it).
Had a talk with a psychologist (no, not the one in the tst blurb) and happened to mention it. His version of why so many people don't "pull the plug"...
"It depends on how you define 'sanity'. To psychologists, as opposed to psychiatrists, sanity is about what's normal. In other words, your 17 people who said 'use the bucket' are the ones who are normal. They are reacting to the question because of the way they are educated.
"Most people do. State a problem, and they attempt to solve it with the givens in the problem. They'll keep on trying, even when there's no solution through the givens. Oh, they'll eventually give up, with the problem unsolved, but, if they go back to it, they'll continue with the givens - the idea of the bucket, cup, teaspoon because they're all containers of "a" solution.
"It's how most people are taught to think and problem solve."
Sad, isn't it?
Maybe that's why so many people are willing to let someone else solve the problems, why so many organizations assume that they can save money by not providing services until absolutely essential.
Maybe the terrorists are right - we've gotten so used to having the solutions in the givens that we are not willing to think outside the box those givens create.
