3 ms·
> But at some point I realized that most of the time you aren’t getting in trouble because you are breaking the rules. You are getting in trouble because you ar
by leetcrew 9y ago
> But at some point I realized that most of the time you aren’t getting in trouble because you are breaking the rules. You are getting in trouble because you are making the rule makers unhappy.
i had a similar realization in late high-school / early college, but worded a little differently. the rules themselves were never designed to be reasonable; they were designed to solve problems that the rule makers encountered in the past and afford them a "legitimate" means of recourse. no one ever intended to apply them consistently. this is why you can generally break as many rules as you want, so long as you don't actually cause a problem for someone. on the flip side, if you create a problem, they damn sure have an applicable rule on the books.
- jv22222 9y agoThe issue with all of this is most people are rule abiding citizens, that's why it's so easy to game the system and get away with it. (Thinking about businesses & politicians)
- eslaught 9y agoI think you're missing the point of what GP is saying. My interpretation was that rules are only an approximation for what the rulemakers actually care about, and if you understand that, optimizing for what they want and not what they say will be a lot better for you than doing what they say but not what they want.
- uhhhhhhh 9y agoI think you're missing his point here. Yes, those of us that question and break rules can optimize for what is actually desired vs what is 'proscribed' and have better outcomes. But many/most people rather just follow the rules/directions in the first place rather than break the rules or attempt to find optimal ways around them.
- jjoonathan 9y agoRiiiight, which is why many/most people drive the speed limit.
- jv22222 9y agoWell, that's not a great example because people drive the speed that everyone else drives at, so the "rules" are implied because we're all doing it. All this other stuff is about people looking for specific optimizations or ways to game the system that most people don't do.
- xapata 8y agoYou define "rule" differently than the people you are conversing with.
- Ngunyan 9y agoAnd people stop at red lights even if the intersection is open with no cars on intersecting roads or no turning cars.
- uhhhhhhh 8y agoExactly. Not sure where you're from, but a good 30-50% of people drive the speed limit.