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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 6th, 2023

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  • Ok I’m going to answer my own question because I’m too curious to wait lol

    Goodhart’s Law states that “when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” In other words, when we use a measure to reward performance, we provide an incentive to manipulate the measure in order to receive the reward. This can sometimes result in actions that actually reduce the effectiveness of the measured system while paradoxically improving the measurement of system performance. … The manipulation of measures resulting from Goodhart’s Law is pervasive because direct measures of effectiveness (MOEs), which are more difficult to manipulate, are also more difficult to measure, and sometimes simply impossible to define and quantify. As a result, analysts must often settle for measures of performance (MOPs) that correlate to the desired effect of the MOE. … These negative effects can sometimes be avoided. When they cannot, they can be identified, mitigated, and even reversed.

    • Use MOEs instead of MOPs whenever practicable and possible
    • Use the scientific method to generate new measurement data, rather than harvesting existing and possibly compromised data
    • Help customers establish authoritative and difficult-to-manipulate definitions for measures
    • Identify and avoid the use of manipulated data and data prone to manipulation
    • Use measurement data not generated by the organization being measured
    • Collect data secretly or after a measurable activity has already occurred
    • Measure all relevant system characteristics rather than just a representative few
    • Randomize the measures used over time
    • Wargame or red team potential measures

    This report recommends that the organizations that employ analysts should do the following:

    • Return to the roots of operational research to focus more on direct measurements in the field
    • Answer the questions that should be answered, rather than the questions that can be answered simply because the required data are already available
    • Train analysts on MOEs, MOPs, and Goodhart’s Law and how they are interrelated
    • Make recognition of Goodhart’s Law part of the internal peer review process and part of all delivered analytical products
    • Identify and share mitigation best practices

    [Source]








  • It isn’t just laundry of course. This meme speaks to motivation as other folks commented.

    Motivation can come from emotion either from response to external input or ones own thinking.

    Motivation can also come from the brain’s executive function, where you decide to “Just do it”.

    So if someone yells angrily at me to do a thing, or if I am freaking because the deadline is early upon me, or there is an emergency, or if a friend asks for help, the emotions can motivate me easily as is the case for anyone.

    If I know I need to work on a boring thing today to save myself from panic later, the “just do it” part of my brain doesn’t have enough oomph to actually get me to do the thing. Like, no amount of pushing myself, self goading, self talk, nothing. It’s like trying to push a car alone with the parking brake on. I just can’t budge myself.

    When I am on medication, it can still be hard but I actually feel like getting something done, I want to do it, and I am able to just will myself to do the thing. I can just be like “yeah this sucks, it’s boring but fuck it let’s do this” and then, unlike before, I actually start doing it. Which is still a marvel to me even though I have been on meds for several years. I don’t think most people find self motivation to be a novel thing to marvel over. I think most people are more able to convince themselves to do the sucky boring thing if they just set their mind to it. Being able to do that (even if difficult) is taken for granted.

    Which is why ADHD people are told they are lazy or told to “just do it already”. Normal people don’t know what it is like to have a broken “just do it cortex” :)

    One of Dr. Barkley’s videos explain the motivation issue really well.

    And the thing with ADHD is that it is a constant, every minute of every day struggle with motivation if your line of work involves too little excitement and a lot of tedious boring stuff.

    It was bad enough with me that the only way to function even close to average was to be in constant fear and panic about forgetting things, missing deadlines, getting in (more) trouble, while failing to avoid those things constantly and gaining a reputation as an unreliable lazy flake, eroding trust, and performing poorly in work, school, in relationships. The result was getting lower grades than I could have without ADHD as well as missing out on career growth, losing friends, etc.








  • A fish rots from the head. Corporate culture all flows from the CEO and board. If a bigoted piece of shit is in charge, this is what you get. Because the top of the company sets and enforces policy. So if they don’t care about bigotry or if they are bigoted themselves, they won’t set or enforce policies to stop it. They will hire bigoted management. Those bigots won’t stop it and probably encourage it. They hire bigoted workers who will persecute others and face no consequences. Those who anti-bigots can report but will be ignored or face retaliation.