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>We’re in a much more precarious place financially now, after a few non-spreadsheet-related surprises, but we’re still determined to make whatever decisions we

>We’re in a much more precarious place financially now, after a few non-spreadsheet-related surprises, but we’re still determined to make whatever decisions we can to improve our lives. This, imho, shows the issue with basing life decisions so relentlessly on personal data no matter how well collected. Either the unexpected catastrophic scenario hasn't happened so you don't hedge for it or it has happened and you hedge too much on it happening again. Just like basing stock decisions on the recent past is great right until a recession or bubble hits to wipe you out.

karlmcguire 7y ago
You're basically describing the black swan problem [1], but I'm not sure what your argument has to do with the premise of the article, which I understood as "tracking your life in a mechanical manner allows you to make better, more objective decisions." Are you saying we shouldn't track aspects of our lives because that could lead to essentially "overfitting" decisions based on personal data? I don't think the data or the collection of the data is the problem - it's ignoring black swans. I'd argue that our decisions are always influenced by our personal, recent past. If it's not explicitly written down in a spreadsheet, it's imprinted on our subconscious and associated with related emotions. At least spreadsheets/journals allow us insight into details that we're likely to forget in our day-to-day lives. I think personal tracking is a net positive for anyone. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Swan:_The_Impact_of_the_Highly_Improbable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Swan:_The_Impact_of_...