When in doubt, toss a coin. If you really can't decide which alternative is preferable, if everything seems equal and you don't care a damn, it can't matter what you settle on. Or so you would think. But to flip a coin - literally or figuratively - and abide by the result whatever the consequences would be an inhuman act. If you've ever tried coin-flipping you'll know that there's a good chance you won't accept the outcome: 'Heads? But I can't!' Having been confronted with an imminent imagined possibility that you can't countenance, you will have discovered what it is you wanted to do - or at least will have learned that what you do matters very much indeed.

LRB 5 January 2006 | PDF Download