I do wonder if the old saying about evil triumphing only if good people stay quiet doesn’t apply. Perhaps that is the source of all those unfortunate accidents Elua enjoys. But that is a pretty weak thesis. What might the model be that gets us some ratios related to number of good, bad and indifferent and perhaps a basic human trait about feeling better inside if we don’t do bad. That last bit then allows a large number in the group be indifferent but display a propensities more aligned with Elua than Moloch.
There also seems to be (assuming I actually get the whole map-territory view right) an analytical concern. Perfect competitions is a fiction made up to allow the nice pictures to be drawn on the chalkboard. They are maps, and rather poor, simplistic ones at that, rather than the underlying territory. Seems like Moloch is given power based on the map rather than the underlying territory. Perhaps that is why you offered the technical note so look forward to where you take that. I suppose one path might be to suggest the accidents are not so accidental or surprising.
Accidents, if not too damaging, are net positive because they allow you to learn more & cause you to slow down. If you are wrong about what is good/right/whatever, and you think you are a good person, then you’d want to be corrected. So if you’re having a lot of really damaging accidents in situations where you could reasonably be expected to control, that’s probably not too good, but “reasonably be expected to control” is a very high standard. What I’m very explicitly not saying here is that the “just-world” hypothesis is true in any way; accidents *are* accidents, it’s just that they can be net positive.
One of the recent “cultural” themes being pushed by company I work in is very similar. Basically, if someone critiques you and shows you where you made the mistake, or simply notes a mistake was made, they just gave you a gift, don’t get mad or defensive.
I think there is a lot of truth to that.
My phase is “own your mistakes”. Meaning, acknowledge and learn from.
So, I fully agree with your general point. Accidents and mistakes should never be pure loss settings. And, in some cases they can lead to net positive benefits (and we’re probably done even need to consider those “I was looking for X but found Y and Y is really, really good/beneficial/productive/cost saving/life saving....)
Jane Street Capital was very big on owning your mistakes. I already believed in it as much or more than anyone I knew at the time, but they made it clear I didn’t believe in it enough, and they were right.
Some day I might go read the background here.
I do wonder if the old saying about evil triumphing only if good people stay quiet doesn’t apply. Perhaps that is the source of all those unfortunate accidents Elua enjoys. But that is a pretty weak thesis. What might the model be that gets us some ratios related to number of good, bad and indifferent and perhaps a basic human trait about feeling better inside if we don’t do bad. That last bit then allows a large number in the group be indifferent but display a propensities more aligned with Elua than Moloch.
There also seems to be (assuming I actually get the whole map-territory view right) an analytical concern. Perfect competitions is a fiction made up to allow the nice pictures to be drawn on the chalkboard. They are maps, and rather poor, simplistic ones at that, rather than the underlying territory. Seems like Moloch is given power based on the map rather than the underlying territory. Perhaps that is why you offered the technical note so look forward to where you take that. I suppose one path might be to suggest the accidents are not so accidental or surprising.
Accidents, if not too damaging, are net positive because they allow you to learn more & cause you to slow down. If you are wrong about what is good/right/whatever, and you think you are a good person, then you’d want to be corrected. So if you’re having a lot of really damaging accidents in situations where you could reasonably be expected to control, that’s probably not too good, but “reasonably be expected to control” is a very high standard. What I’m very explicitly not saying here is that the “just-world” hypothesis is true in any way; accidents *are* accidents, it’s just that they can be net positive.
One of the recent “cultural” themes being pushed by company I work in is very similar. Basically, if someone critiques you and shows you where you made the mistake, or simply notes a mistake was made, they just gave you a gift, don’t get mad or defensive.
I think there is a lot of truth to that.
My phase is “own your mistakes”. Meaning, acknowledge and learn from.
So, I fully agree with your general point. Accidents and mistakes should never be pure loss settings. And, in some cases they can lead to net positive benefits (and we’re probably done even need to consider those “I was looking for X but found Y and Y is really, really good/beneficial/productive/cost saving/life saving....)
Jane Street Capital was very big on owning your mistakes. I already believed in it as much or more than anyone I knew at the time, but they made it clear I didn’t believe in it enough, and they were right.