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The exception, not the rule
Our lives are governed by countless rules, some innate, some imposed on us, some we constructed ourselves. But rather than the rules we adopt, it is the exceptions we make to them that define the kind of person we are
How do we choose what to do, or what not to do? Aside from trivial and insignificant decisions or unconscious ones such as habits, it may seem that we evaluate the costs and the benefits (in the widest sense) of the options, and choose the one that comes out on top. Sounds pretty solid and sensible, but considering this more closely, is it really all that convincing? We may have the mental capacity to consider complex decisions, but can we really manage to do so every time, all day long, day in day out?
Things are easy with a rule
Thankfully, we appear to possess a mechanism that can drastically cut down decision-making complexity, sometimes even narrowing the number of options from which to choose to just two, or even one. That mechanism is the rule. Rules capture what is, or is not, appropriate to do. Some of the rules that affect our behaviour are innate.
While it would be technically possible to insert food into our body through our nostrils…
