The tech industry is Goodhart's law-ing society.
... default case. The individual and the collective can never have their interests perfectly aligned.
Topic: perfectly aligned
10 chunks · 9 episodes
Topic summary
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A short read on the topic's time range, peak episode, and strongest associations. Use it as the quick orientation before drilling into examples.
- perfectly aligned appears in 10 chunks across 9 episodes, from 2025-02-10 to 2025-10-13.
- Its densest episode is Bits and Bobs 6/30/25 (2025-06-30), with 2 observations on this topic.
- Semantically it travels with engagement maxing, positive sum, and tech industry, while by chunk count it sits between optimization ratchet and china.
Over time
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Observations
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The primary evidence view for this topic. Sort it chronologically when you want concrete examples behind the larger pattern.
The spirit of the law is very different from the letter of the law.
...s impossible for the incentives of the collective and the individual to ever be perfectly aligned.
The interests of the collective and of the individual cannot ever be perfectly aligned.
The interests of the collective and of the individual cannot ever be perfectly aligned. It's a structural impossibility. You could get asymptotically close to aligned in some circumstances, but never perfectly aligned. There's always a ...
From the outside you see an organization as one thing.
...ganization can be seen for what it is, a collection of sub-entities that aren't perfectly aligned. That can never be perfectly aligned with the collective. Outside the boundary you only see the external API, not the internal complexity. If you cou...
What you want to want and what you want must be disjoint to some degree, they can't be perfectly aligned.
...u want to want and what you want must be disjoint to some degree, they can't be perfectly aligned. That misalignment is where the Goodhart's law delta emerges, leading to the inevitability of engagement maxing. If a company doesn't do it, their co...
Advertising is prevalent partly because it works.
...em look like that was balanced to the benefit of the user? Suggestions that are perfectly aligned with users' incentives would be much better than advertising for end users. But also pretty good for advertisers, too, because it would be so aligned...
LLMs are great at debunking… but also bunking.
... debunking… but also bunking. So if it has intimate knowledge of you and is not perfectly aligned (an impossibility) you get Goodhart's Law. An epic, society-scale monkey's paw. Hold on to your butts!
I want Intentional Tech.
I want Intentional Tech. Technology that is perfectly aligned with my intentions. Not optimizing for anyone else, (especially a corporation), but for me. Not necessarily what I do but what I intend to do. My hig...
In this new era of AI I think it's important to have Coactive Computing.
...e and with human agency. Prosocial. Aspirational and community minded. Private. Perfectly aligned with the human's interests. Meaningful. Not about engagement.
The Washington Post covered an example where OpenAI's Operator did something unexpected.
... of giving something autonomous agency to operate on your behalf. If you aren't perfectly aligned, watch out! Perfect alignment between two entities isn't possible[aai][aaj]. Agents are like the monkey's paw of wish granting. Be careful what you w...