I think competition is an important element to capture in the name. I’m not sure that any of sacrifice, race, or trap are defining concepts, though they usually apply. I think of it as over-focus on a few somewhat-visible (if not perfectly legible) dimensions, at the expense of harder-to-notice-analytically value dimensions. So maybe “goodharted value optimization”, but that’s not great either.
In my head, I tend to think of it as related to “moneyball over-focus”—taking the wrong lesson from Billy Beane’s success—he optimized for winning on a budget, not for great baseball athleticism or developing player excellence (except as part of the visible optimization). He was very successful in that, but the world lost something for it.
The antidote is Slack, which is the ultimate illegible value. I’m not sure how/whether to work that into the name.
Hmm.. I think our understanding what “Moloch” stands for is quite different, cause none of what you suggested seems close to me. Which I guess also illustrates why I wanted a different name. “Moloch” is very good at entering your head and creating a visceral feeling of the dynamic, but it can also make it ambiguous and difficult to understand. Also, I find when I introduce people to the concept, it really throws them off if I start to talking about some mythical deity from the Bible :)
I think competition is an important element to capture in the name. I’m not sure that any of sacrifice, race, or trap are defining concepts, though they usually apply. I think of it as over-focus on a few somewhat-visible (if not perfectly legible) dimensions, at the expense of harder-to-notice-analytically value dimensions. So maybe “goodharted value optimization”, but that’s not great either.
In my head, I tend to think of it as related to “moneyball over-focus”—taking the wrong lesson from Billy Beane’s success—he optimized for winning on a budget, not for great baseball athleticism or developing player excellence (except as part of the visible optimization). He was very successful in that, but the world lost something for it.
The antidote is Slack, which is the ultimate illegible value. I’m not sure how/whether to work that into the name.
Hmm.. I think our understanding what “Moloch” stands for is quite different, cause none of what you suggested seems close to me. Which I guess also illustrates why I wanted a different name. “Moloch” is very good at entering your head and creating a visceral feeling of the dynamic, but it can also make it ambiguous and difficult to understand. Also, I find when I introduce people to the concept, it really throws them off if I start to talking about some mythical deity from the Bible :)