Compostmodernist

This episode was lovingly produced by Charlie Mintz. Hit play to listen.

This week we offer up an interview of Daniel Steinbock who “is taking on one of the biggest foes of community”: dirty dishes. Daniel has formulated a scientific theory of how and why dirty dishes pile up despite our best intentions. He also proposes a solution to what he terms the “Dirty Dish Dilemma.” Wait for it….

U + 1 = clean

After proving that the policy of “everyone clean your own dishes” is insufficient to prevent a dirty dish disaster, Daniel shows that a trivially small amount of altruism on everyone’s part is more than enough to save the day. The answer: 1. clean your own dishes (of course), and 2. if there are dirty dishes in the sink, clean one extra. U + 1 = clean. If everyone does this, the sink will stay clean, dishes won’t pile up, and – here’s the best part – most of the time, there won’t be any extra.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:00 — 11.9MB)

The interview is an excerpt from a recent Stanford Storytelling Project episode on the subject of “Community” and aired live on KZSU 90.1 FM on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009. The piece was lovingly produced by Charlie Mintz, who also hosted the episode on the air.