Buridan's Ass
Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30
CORE DEFINITION
A perfectly rational donkey stands exactly midway between two identical, equidistant piles of hay. Since there is no reason to favor either side, it will starve to death due to indecision.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
Rational paralysis. When two options are extremely close in value, excessive rational analysis can lead to a deadlock. At this point, it is necessary to introduce 'randomness' or 'intuition' to break the symmetry. Flipping a coin is not to leave things to fate, but to break the deadlock of Buridan's ass.
Anchor fast decisions
Buridan's ass refers to a situation where, when options are completely equivalent in value and information is symmetric, a rational agent falls into infinite hesitation due to the inability to break a tie, even missing the opportunity to act. It reveals the paralysis of 'absolute rationality' in a tie.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/2Practice this model in one real situation:
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more
Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buridan%27s_assverified
PRIVATE NOTES · Only visible to you
SAVED Q&A
ENTRY Q&A · Private saving available
Ask with a clear boundary
thinkingmodels answers from published entry context only.
Your question is sent to thinkingmodels. The answer uses public entry context only.
RELATED MODELS