After reading “Who Moved My Cheese?”, the core idea is very clear: change is the norm, so one must be keen to sense change, respond quickly, take action, and find new cheese. Don’t stick to the old ways or stay put out of fear.
Plot
The book mainly talks about a class reunion, where one person narrates the story of “Who Moved My Cheese?” The story takes place in a maze where two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two little people, Hem and Haw, are constantly searching for cheese. They come to Station C, where they find a large supply of cheese for the first time. The little people become complacent and base their future plans on this abundant cheese. After a while, the cheese supply runs out. The mice leave early to find new cheese, but the little people can’t believe it happened. They think the cheese was stolen because they believe it was rightfully theirs. Hem wallows in the past, depressed and staying at Station C. After a period of mental struggle, Haw sets out again for survival. He suffers for starting later than the mice but eventually finds an even larger cheese supply, where the mice are already waiting. As for Hem, he probably died.
Sophistry
However, I think the book overlooks the complexity of reality. In the book, the cheese is eaten by the little people, but for some reason, they don’t know that. From a god’s-eye view, we know the cheese was eaten by them, so there’s no chance of it coming back. Hence, we see Hem as a fool, waiting in vain for the cheese to return. But the little people don’t know! They could completely believe that the probability of the cheese returning is similar to the probability of finding new cheese, hence they try to wait for it. In other words, a programmer who gets laid off due to a bad economy doesn’t know if the “cheese” will come back, i.e., whether the economy will improve or if more layoffs from big companies will make re-employment harder. In this situation, should he keep practicing coding and sending out resumes, or should he look for other paths, other “cheese”? We don’t know, because no one can predict the future!
As readers, we know the cheese won’t come back, so Hem, who doesn’t change, will fail, and Haw, who changes, will succeed. Then the book tries to reach the conclusion that “one must change.” Isn’t this sophistry? I could write another story where Hem and Haw still don’t know if the cheese will come back, but from a god’s-eye view, we see the cheese was stored in a bank and will return with interest to Station C in a few days, and there’s no larger cheese supply outside. In this case, Hem, who doesn’t change, will succeed, and Haw, who changes, will fail. If Haw never returns to Station C, he might starve in the maze. Then I could say, “So, we should adapt to changes by staying the same.”
The book fails to provide enough support for its argument, we shouldn’t believe the arguments in it.