--- title: "The100: The Toilet Paper Principle" description: "Our Fantasy Dinner Party Guest List just grew Canapes perennially at the ready for Dave (Trott), Rory (Sutherland) and Bob (Hoffman). Extra place setting now for Russell (Davies). He wrote this defence of powerpoint. Rare, no? And now for a short quiz: Your presentations always get remarked upon for their wit, style and creativeness.Yes – liar 😉 No – have a read …" image: https://hello.watchmethink.com/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20(10)-1.png --- [![Bombayworks logotype](https://hello.watchmethink.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/WatchMeThink_September_2023/images/wmt-logo_inverse.svg "Bombayworks logotype")](https://watchmethink.com/) - [What we do](https://watchmethink.com/#) - [Watch Me Explore](https://watchmethink.com/what-we-do/watch-me-explore) - [Watch Me Develop](https://watchmethink.com/what-we-do/watch-me-develop) - [Watch Me Use](https://watchmethink.com/what-we-do/watch-me-use) - [Watch Me Shop](https://watchmethink.com/what-we-do/watch-me-shop) - [Who it's for](https://watchmethink.com/#) - [Consumer Insights](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/consumer-insights) - [Shopper Insights](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/shopper-insights) - [Category Management](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/category-mangement) - [Innovation & Product Development](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/innovation) - [Sensory & Consumer Science](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/consumer-science) - [Packaging](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/packaging) - [Marketing](https://watchmethink.com/who-its-for/marketing) - [About](https://watchmethink.com/about) - [The 100 Blog](https://blog.watchmethink.com/) - [Contact](https://watchmethink.com/contact) - [Login](https://watchmethink.com/dashboard) - [Sign up](https://watchmethink.com/#) - [Corporate users](https://watchmethink.com/account/register/client) - [Request registration here](https://watchmethink.com/account/register/client) - [Consumer](https://watchmethink.com/account/register/contributor) - [Get paid to review products](https://watchmethink.com/account/register/contributor) Menu # The100: The Toilet Paper Principle - Home - [Blog](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog) - The100: The Toilet Paper Principle - [Blog home /](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog) [Alistair Vince](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/author/alistair-vince) 09/22/2017 [The100](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/tag/the100) [0 Comments](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-the-toilet-paper-principle#postComment) 1 Minutes **Our Fantasy Dinner Party Guest List just grew** Canapes perennially at the ready for [Dave](http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/author/4561/Dave-Trott) (Trott), [Rory](https://www.spectator.co.uk/author/rory-sutherland/) (Sutherland) and [Bob](http://adcontrarian.blogspot.co.uk/) (Hoffman). Extra place setting now for [Russell](http://www.russelldavies.com/) (Davies). He wrote [this defence of powerpoint](http://www.russelldavies.com/writing/tuftepowerpoint/tuftepoint.html). Rare, no? **And now for a short quiz:** 1. Your presentations always get remarked upon for their wit, style and creativeness.*Yes* – liar 😉 *No* – have a read of this: [how to do great presentations](http://www.doingpresentations.com/tips.html). **From an embittered, pretentious creative** [Why creative people have lost their way](http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/why-creative-people-lost/1444368). > *Creativity in our \[ad\] industry is not dying because creative people are becoming less creative. It’s because they’re increasingly being asked to behave like business people and to put business interests ahead of creative work.* **All knowing, all seeing, all confused** Now for AI. Of course you know everything about it. So do I. Apart from perhaps everything I thought I knew… [“Stop pretending you really know what AI is, and read this instead”](https://qz.com/1067123/stop-pretending-you-really-know-what-ai-is-and-read-this-instead/) > *Let’s consider for a second what we talk about when we talk about AI. Because I’m not sure many of us really know—or, at the very least, we’re not talking/[arguing](https://www.inc.com/scott-mautz/elon-musk-and-mark-zuckerberg-exchange-heated-word.html)/worrying about the same things.* **The Toilet Paper Principle** Staying on the tech theme, Tim Hartford writes about [what we get wrong about technology](http://timharford.com/2017/08/what-we-get-wrong-about-technology/) – with a lovely Blade Runner allegory at the beginning. > *Toilet paper seems a long way from the printing revolution. And it is easily overlooked — as we occasionally discover in moments of inconvenience. But many world-changing inventions hide in plain sight in much the same way — too cheap to remark on, even as they quietly reorder everything. We might call this the “toilet-paper principle”.* **One for Obsessive Compulsive data nerds** How close can 2 houses be that have identical house numbers and street names? *(And why are they all located in the north west of England?)* Here’s a [great tale about someone who obsessively sought out an answer](http://www.paulplowman.com/stuff/house-address-twins-proximity/). Funny. **The country that doesn’t exist** To finish, [some lovely photos from Transnistria](https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/neez3b/photos-from-transnistria-the-country-that-doesnt-exist). You know the place. Famous for… oh you know. --- #### Tag: [The100](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/tag/the100) #### Share: - [Follow us on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-the-toilet-paper-principle) - [Follow us on Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-the-toilet-paper-principle&text=The100:%20The%20Toilet%20Paper%20Principle) - [Follow us on Linkedin](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-the-toilet-paper-principle) - [Follow us on Pinterest](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-the-toilet-paper-principle&text=The100:%20The%20Toilet%20Paper%20Principledescription=Our%20Fantasy%20Dinner%20Party%20Guest%20List%20just%20grew&media=https://3461170.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/3461170/Untitled%20design%20%2810%29-1.png) --- --- ## From the archives If you like The100, maybe even found it vaguely enjoyable (steady now), you can have a ganders at our previous issues. 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[The100](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/tag/the100) 21 August, 2026 #### [The100: Neurononsense, the gym test and the Republic of Olvana](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-neurononsense-the-gym-test-and-the-republic-of-olvana) Cite me if you can If I had a cent for every time I heard “95% of purchase decisions are… [Read More](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-neurononsense-the-gym-test-and-the-republic-of-olvana) [The100](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/tag/the100) 07 August, 2026 #### [The100: Discount loops, The Batman Effect and crimes against the Y axis](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-discount-loops-the-batman-effect-and-crimes-against-the-y-axis) Yellow sticker syndrome Mark Ritson has staged an intervention against price promotions and given… [Read More](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-discount-loops-the-batman-effect-and-crimes-against-the-y-axis) [The100](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/tag/the100) 24 July, 2026 #### [The100: Finding the words, scrolling no more and 149,677 maps](https://hello.watchmethink.com/blog/the100-finding-the-words-scrolling-no-more-and-149677-maps) Finding the words So, you’ve got your insight (yay!). 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