Systemic Conflict

I’m in the middle of a terrific book by Daniel Kahneman entitled Thinking Fast And Slow.

This book was given to me by my good friend Keiki, and for good reason.  It’s changing the way I think about consciousness.

It also provides hard evidence for something that I’ve suspected for a long time. Namely that my conscious mind is not so instrumental in a majority of the decisions that I make.

Kahneman breaks down human cognition into two systems. “System 1” is fast, intuitive, low effort, and almost entirely unconscious. “System 2” is analytical, high effort, editorial, and more in line with our general conception of the conscious mind.

Importantly, “system 1” requires much less mental effort and is thus instrumental in the majority of the decisions that we make (It’s kind of like autopilot). And it makes our decisions for us, without us even knowing that it’s doing so.

On some level because we are lazy (or efficiency prone?), “system 1” is pretty much in control most of the time. And this is the source of much of our irrationality.

And I suspect this relates back to early retirement theory, in the following way:

Because the pursuit of early retirement taps into a fundamental human desire for freedom, by pursuing this goal, our “system 1” is in someway fundamentally altered. (Which is probably a good thing, if change is what we’re after, since “system 1” is the one calling most of the shots.)

Which all sounds pretty abstract and pie-in-the-sky. So please allow me to provide an example from my personal life to illustrate what I’m talking about.

I would like to buy a bike.

More specifically, I would like to buy a bike, and start commuting by bike to work.

This is one of Mr. Money Mustaches main prescriptions, and I take him at his word on this one.

The idea of bike commuting appeals to me for the following reasons.

• I notice that when I exercise, I am happier.
• I like the idea of incorporating exercise into my daily routine, as opposed to, say, joining a gym.
• I like the idea of using my own body to propel me, as opposed to unnecessarily using greenhouse gas emitting fuels.
• I’ve noticed that driving, particularly in traffic, makes me pretty unhappy.
• It’s a smart move economically. (Since biking is cheaper than driving.)

So you could say I’m pretty bullish on this whole biking experiment. In fact, I’m raring to go.

So for the past couple of weeks I’ve been doing some research on bike options.

And here is the list of qualities that I’ve decided that I want in a bike:

• It should be comfortable.
• It should be fun to ride.
• It should be able to accept fenders and bike bags for the winter when I’ll be commuting in the rain.
• It should have drop bars. (I just like the feel of these more than flat bars.)
• It should be fast-ish
• It should be cheap.

And I’ve literally test ridden 10 or 11 different bikes. And I’ve been perusing craigslist to see what the secondhand market looks like, too.

And there were differences between all of the bikes. Disc brakes versus caliper brakes, flat bars versus drop bars, different gearing systems, and frame materials etc.

But all of the bikes felt pretty much the same to me. There were small differences, but nothing to write home about.

And this fungible quality of all the bikes was quite comfortable for me. For if there is one central rule to my new ethic is that I should spend less money, and save more. So if all the bikes were the same, decision would become easy. I would simply choose the cheapest one.

And then I test drove the 11th bike. And it felt completely different. It seemed to fit my body perfectly. Riding it felt incredibly comfortable and efficient. The road felt smooth. And peddling was even more fun. (Which of course all could have been the placebo effect.  I certainly wasn’t blinded to the price.)

(These tulips bloomed the minute the bike parked there.)

Of course, this bike was about 50 to 100% more expensive than all of the other bikes that I had previously checked out.

I can afford it easily. But that’s never really the question when you’re an early retirement enthusiast, is it? The question is if the extra money that it would take to buy this bike would deliver enough additional utility (happiness) to justify not investing it in the market. (The implicit assumption being that investing in the market is equivalent to a making a payment on my future financial independence.)

And this tension between the desire for the fancy bike, and the desire to stay true to my own newly adopted moral system is palpable. And I can feel the friction bubbling beneath the surface of my mind.

And don’t worry, I know how ridiculous this all sounds. This is the very definition of a first world problem, which is to say no problem at all.

But the friction and irritation remains.

And if I try to define this conflict occurring in my new “system 1” that both wants pretty things, and wants not to want pretty things, my “system 2” comes up with the following pros and cons for buying the bike.

Pro

• I should buy a quality bike, take good care of it and keep it for a long time.  It’ll be cheaper in the end this way.
• Having a bike that feels good, makes it more likely that I will ride it every day.
• I should not be a fundamentalist. Moderation in all things is better, including frugality.
• The additional money is a good investment in my own happiness.

Con

• I am just being a soft, fancy pants, foolishly trying to buy myself happiness with pretty toys.
• Mr. Money Mustache himself has a $400 bike that he uses to tow refrigerators around, and brave snowstorms.
• This is an excellent opportunity to build up my frugality muscles.
• To buy the bike is a cop-out.
• Buying the fancy bike is not “moderation,” it is a complete lack of discipline.
• After basic needs are met, happiness does not come from things.  That’s for sure.

And to be honest spelling it all out is not really that helpful to me making my decision.(And fortunately, the stakes could not be lower.)

But the interesting part, I think, is that somewhere in my gray matter, below the level of my consciousness, my two “system 1’s” are probably fighting it out as we speak. Which I will take, on faith, as evidence that this journey towards early retirement is subtly changing my own mental make up in a positive way.