Why do people prefer dog breeds rather than a random dog? (I’m assuming that’s the preference, statistically speaking.)
I bet it’s about the problem of too much choice.
One thing I like about using Apple products is that when it comes time to upgrade, or expand, I have just a few options and I know what I’m getting, generally speaking. The lack of choice and configurability is a feature, not a flaw.
If I’m going to get a dog, I’m going to get a greyhound. Might be female or male, brindle or spotted — these are up to timing and availability — but I know what I’m getting with a greyhound, and it’s what I want. Could I love another dog just as much? Yes. But how do I decide? I can talk myself into and out of anything when staring into those liquid eyes. What dog speaks to me? The one I’ve owned for year. Or all of them always.
Branding, right? Once you’ve picked from among a thousand possibilities, unless something goes horribly wrong, you stick with the brand. It’s just not worth optimizing, not worth seeing if another brand is slightly better on one axis or another. If the soap doesn’t actually clean anymore, or gives you a rash, well, find something new, but, otherwise, leave it alone. In fact, you are optimizing: when you go to the store for new soap or toothpaste, you pick up the same brand and size as before with almost zero thought and move on your way, rather than stand there blocking everyone else while slack-jawed by too much choice and the vague feeling you’re making the wrong one, that someone is taking advantage of you. Once you’ve pre-figured out all your choices, you can race through the place quickly, saving the time so you can spend it doing what you really want to do, figure out how to eat all the cookies at once so no one knows you bought them.
So, I can understand the love of a given breed, and even the claims that some breeds are this, and others are that, though I’m generally skeptical that nature can hold a candle to nurture. Still, I get it. Breeds are not going to go away for a long time.
Greyhounds, though. What will become of them after the last track is closed?
