The goodness of the individual actions in a system and the goodness of the emergent result are distinct.

· Bits and Bobs 8/18/25
  • The goodness of the individual actions in a system and the goodness of the emergent result are distinct.
    • It's possible, and even common, to have all of the individual actions be uniformly good, but the emergent result be bad.
      • "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"
    • It's a 2x2:
      • Local Decoherence / Global Decoherence: Chaos
      • Local Coherence / Global Decoherence: Kafka-esque systems.
        • Evil results, but they persist because no one can point to the evil actions that cause it.
      • Local Decoherence / Global Coherence: Pandemic lockdowns.
        • Bad for each individual; good for emergently stemming the tide of the disease.
      • Local Coherence / Global Coherence: Transcendence.
        • Resonant systems that are good at all dimensions.
        • Individuals feel rewarded and authentic and the emergent output is also good for society.
    • A system where everyone in it does the right thing but the emergent result is a bad thing is a bad system.