To make matters worse, it's also a vicious cycle. For example, if everyone is focused only on specific kinds of data and ignores observable reality, the trend i

To make matters worse, it's also a vicious cycle. For example, if everyone is focused only on specific kinds of data and ignores observable reality, the trend in the data will become self-fulfilling until a point when the perceived inconsistency between the data and observable reality has grown so large that it becomes impossible to ignore. To understand what the big problems are today, you just have to think about the kinds of data which people in government (and the public) haven't been thinking about or aiming for. For example: Happiness, honesty, altruism, sanity... These are not measured and not targeted so they got completely crushed. In the past, large, powerful religious groups would target these characteristics but nowadays, society is more secular so these aspects of our lives have suffered significantly.