# hobson's choice (one-option)

*Ordinarily means:* a free choice in which only one thing is actually offered: take it or nothing

A choice whose walls another has set so that one option is open, and the only other action within reach is to take nothing.

- Computed level: L18 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: published  ·  Domain: agency

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [choice](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-choice.decision), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [set](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-set.fix), [options](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-options.choice), [open](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-open.spatial), [action](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-action.deed), [reach](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-reach.action), [take](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-take.acquisition), [nothing](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-nothing.absence), [power](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-power.over)

**Through:** The setter keeps the form of a choice while setting walls on each option but one; the only other act within reach is refusal, which takes nothing. The thing is free to choose and has nothing to choose among.

**Novel properties:**
- a choice in form with one option in fact
- refusal as the only alternative
- power that looks like a free offer

## Examples
- Thomas Hobson, a Cambridge carrier who hired out horses in the early 1600s, required each customer to take the horse nearest the stable door or none at all. *(history)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hobsons-choice.one-option*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hobsons-choice.one-option.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*