We live in an age where there are a multitude of fountain pens available, with more and more new models produced each year, to say nothing of the smorgasbord of (mostly working) older pens, some dating from the fin de siècle, that are also there for the sampling. On top of this, look at inks. From a time when there were few colours - mainly black or brown - through the cautious introduction of blue, red and green, to the current firework display of endless variation.

In other words, there is a lot of choice. A real lot.


The other day I caught a recording of George Carlin, and in it he said "Too many choices America, it's not healthy". He was talking about something else, but it struck a chord.

Well, leaving out the "America" part I wondered if there was any kind of debate on this, and it turns out that there has been tons. Far too much to mention here. A short internet search led me to a book by psychologist Barry Schwartz - The Paradox of Choice, Why more is less. This in turn led to another website all about voluntary simplicity, and from there a winding path through history to the likes of Diogenes and so on. Hence the rabbit hole in the title.

It would seem, from a cursory reading, that having too many choices reduces our happiness in significant ways. And yet, here we are in a culture of rampant consumerism.

So, I am a bit baffled. Is our assessment such that the supposed happiness assigned to acquisition outweighs the apparently well-known happiness that accrues with living more simply?



Note, for the most part I would exclude collection that is done with the spirit of preservation of historical (past and present) artifacts from this question.