Annotation

There's an experiment in psychology that tells the tale: A group of children, barefoot, is given the task of crossing the floor of a room without touching it with any part of their bodies. They are each given two pieces of wood the size of shingles and two pieces of string. The enterprising children quickly come up with the idea of making shoes. They tie wood to each foot and run across. Another group of children, assigned the identical goal, is furnished with only one piece of wood and one length of string. These children tie the board onto one foot and hop across. They spend half as much time tying knots and ultimately reach the other side of the room more quickly. It's the more elegant solution, the one using fewer tools. Homo sapiens like to use as many tools as possible. If I have two lenses or two film types, I'll spend time thinking about which to use. But if I limit myself to one lens and one film type, I've eliminated mechanical considerations.