Chapter Summary
Chapter 20, titled "A priority assignment," serves as the philosophical conclusion to the book, challenging the reader to ask the ultimate question: "Do I really want a solution?",. Through the anecdote of a code breaker who spends years deciphering a diplomatic code only to discover the messages are trivial expense reports, the authors illustrate how the fascination with the process of solving can blind us to the value—or lack thereof—of the result,. The chapter utilizes the fable of the Fisherman and his Wife and the alchemical search for a "universal solvent" to demonstrate that solutions often carry inherent, regretful consequences that we fail to anticipate because of haste or habituation,,. Ultimately, the authors argue that problem solving is never a morally neutral activity and urge solvers to remain true to themselves, recognizing that a solution might destroy the very environment ("the water") that sustains the people involved,.
Deep Dive into Chapter 20
The Parable of JACTITATION The chapter begins by recounting the story of a highly skilled problem solver who began his career cracking codes for a secret agency. After a decade of success, he was given a "PRIORITY" assignment with the security name JACTITATION. His mission was to break the diplomatic code of a small European power, which happened to be an ally of his own country.
This task became a two-year odyssey for the code breaker. For the first 18 months, despite his skill and the aid of the world's most powerful computing equipment, he made zero progress. Eventually, through meticulous tabulation, he hypothesized that the diplomats were utilizing a "book code," a type of cipher notoriously difficult to break. It took him another six months to confirm that the key was indeed a book, specifically a mystery novel, and two additional months to identify the specific author. Finally, he located the exact key text in the agency's library: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers.
With the key in hand, the solver was eager to finally read the secrets of this foreign power. He selected a message marked as extremely urgent and began the translation process, converting numbers into page, line, and word. The resulting message read: "Twenty-three bottles Scotch, fifty-nine wine". Assuming this was a fluke, he decoded another message, only to find it was another expense account. After translating 57 JACTITATION messages and finding every single one to be an expense account, the problem solver quit the intelligence business and became a teacher.
The Crucial Question: Do I Really Want a Solution? The JACTITATION story serves as a setup for a critical question that every problem resolver should ask before embarking on a serious effort: "Do I really want a solution?". The authors suggest that this question often appears shocking to solvers because they are usually trapped in the effort itself. We often work so hard on a problem that we never truly believe we will solve it, so we fail to worry about the consequences of success.
The authors draw a parallel to a poor student who window-shops for items he cannot afford. While he has no money, he dreams of owning a cabin cruiser; however, if he were to suddenly win the lottery, his impulse to buy every desired item might reveal that he is susceptible to seasickness. This illustrates that the desire for a solution is often based on the lack of the solution, without a realistic understanding of what possessing the solution entails.
The Danger of Haste: The Fisherman’s Wife The chapter explores the theme of regret through the retelling of the classic tale of the Fisherman and his Wife. In the story, a Fisherman frees a Genie from a bottle and is granted three wishes. The couple is exhilarated but, in their haste and fatigue, they fail to plan carefully. Late that night, driven by simple hunger, the wife mutters a wish for a sausage.
When the sausage instantly appears, the Fisherman is enraged by the waste of a magical wish on something so trivial. In his anger, he wishes the sausage were hanging from her nose. The second wish is immediately granted, leaving them with a dilemma. They are forced to use their third and final wish to remove the sausage, leaving them exactly where they started, but with the knowledge of their wasted opportunity.
The authors use this story to modify an old problem-solving adage. While it is often said that "We never have enough time to do it right, but we always have enough time to do it over," the authors propose a more somber variation: "We never have enough time to consider whether we want it, but we always have enough time to regret it",.
The Universal Solvent and Side Effects Even when a solution is genuinely desired, it inevitably brings auxiliary consequences. To illustrate this, the authors point to the ancient Alchemist’s quest for the "universal solvent"—a liquid capable of dissolving any substance. The quest was logically doomed because, if such a solvent existed, there would be no container capable of holding it; it would dissolve the vial, the shelf, the floor, and eventually the earth itself.
The authors argue that we incorrectly label these consequences as "side effects" to dismiss them, assuming they can be refined away. However, these effects are often intrinsic to the solution. The text provides stark examples:
Habituation: The Fish and the Water A major reason problem solvers fail to anticipate these consequences is "habituation"—the human tendency to reduce our response to repetitive stimuli. Habituation allows us to ignore constant elements in our environment to simplify our lives, but it also blinds us to the essential context of a problem.
The authors quote the aphorism: "The fish is always the last to see the water". The water is the constant environment that sustains the fish, and the fish only notices it when it is gone.
To dramatize this, the authors describe a scene from Satyajit Ray’s movie trilogy, The World of Apu. When the protagonist Apu learns his wife has died, he lies immobile in bed for days. The audience shares his lethargy, habituating to the sound of a ticking alarm clock in the background. Suddenly, the clock stops. The silence startles Apu and the audience, highlighting the absence of the sound. This cinematic moment illustrates how we often only realize the value of an environmental factor (like the ticking clock, or a loved one) when it ceases to exist.
The lesson for the problem resolver is to act as an artist. From the very beginning of the process, the solver must strive to see the "water"—the unspoken, habituated environment in which the participants swim. The risk of solving a problem is that the solution may transmute that essential water into sand.
Postscript: Moral Responsibility The chapter concludes with a serious postscript regarding the morality of problem solving. The authors warn that getting immersed in the fascination of a puzzle can lead a solver to neglect moral judgments. They remind the reader that "One person's sin is another's virtue," and that problem solving is never a morally neutral activity,.
Quoting Polonius from Hamlet, "This above all, to thine own self be true," the authors urge solvers to consider moral questions before they get close to a solution. Once a solver is close to the answer, the fascination with the puzzle may overpower their sensibility. The book ends with the assertion that considering these moral implications is never a waste of time.