3 ms·

Completely agree. Incentives are for the statistical masses. As thinking individuals we can and should use our awareness and courage to make biggest "good" cho

by zdc1 2mo ago

Completely agree. Incentives are for the statistical masses. As thinking individuals we can and should use our awareness and courage to make biggest "good" choices we can bear to. We can't all be zero-waste vegan community organisers lobbying for renewables and free education/healthcare, but I doubt living life with the blinders on leads any kind of moral or spiritual growth or fulfilment either.

Swizec 2mo ago
> As thinking individuals we can and should use our awareness and courage to make biggest "good" choices we can bear to. That’s the cool thing about incentives, we follow them whether we realize it or not. “bear to” is where the incentives are hiding. We don’t make the best choices, we choose from the choices available to us. You can’t fight your environment forever. If the gooder choice is 50km away and the bad choice is down the street, eventually you’ll stop going 50km out of your way every day because it’s just too cumbersome. You might even do it “just this once” because you had a busy day and your kid is crying and you’re just so tired and then before you know it, it’s been months or even years since the last time you did the cumbersome better thing.
LPisGood 2mo ago
I can’t totally tell if this is satire but we are all subject to incentives, even if (especially if?) we are aware of it.
- kijin 2mo ago
  The satisfaction and feeling of superiority that comes from knowing that you did the right thing despite incentives to the contrary, in fact, is a very potent incentive in itself. You can totally get addicted to it.
  - disgruntledphd2 2mo ago
    This makes the theory of incentives unfalsifiable, which tracks with how people talk about it.
- kjs3 2mo ago
  It's not satire. They just really wanted to tell us all how very, very special they are, not one of the little people...sorry...statistical masses. Someone never got over reading Atlas Shrugged.
jaccola 2mo ago
> We can't all be zero-waste vegan community organisers lobbying for renewables and free education/healthcare Why? If you genuinely believe these things righteous and important why can’t everyone do them? Perhaps because you’re incentivised not to: it’s a waste of your time, someone else can do your share of the campaigning, non-vegan food tastes great etc.. This is exactly how incentives work, not some spineless person in a dark room saying “yes m’lord I’ll torture another child for an extra nickel” as the article portrays.
ball_of_lint 2mo ago
I'm proud to say that I am person number 1089456347 who is not part of the statistical masses.
brainwad 2mo ago
Incentives are also for when a principal just doesn't care about the difference between two possible choices. But maybe other people indirectly do, and an incentive like price can weigh the scales so that people indifferent to the choice choose the right one.

by zdc1 2mo ago

Swizec 2mo ago

> As thinking individuals we can and should use our awareness and courage to make biggest "good" choices we can bear to. That’s the cool thing about incentives, we follow them whether we realize it or not. “bear to” is where the incentives are hiding. We don’t make the best choices, we choose from the choices available to us. You can’t fight your environment forever. If the gooder choice is 50km away and the bad choice is down the street, eventually you’ll stop going 50km out of your way every day because it’s just too cumbersome. You might even do it “just this once” because you had a busy day and your kid is crying and you’re just so tired and then before you know it, it’s been months or even years since the last time you did the cumbersome better thing.

LPisGood 2mo ago

I can’t totally tell if this is satire but we are all subject to incentives, even if (especially if?) we are aware of it.

kijin 2mo ago
The satisfaction and feeling of superiority that comes from knowing that you did the right thing despite incentives to the contrary, in fact, is a very potent incentive in itself. You can totally get addicted to it.
- disgruntledphd2 2mo ago
  This makes the theory of incentives unfalsifiable, which tracks with how people talk about it.
kjs3 2mo ago
It's not satire. They just really wanted to tell us all how very, very special they are, not one of the little people...sorry...statistical masses. Someone never got over reading Atlas Shrugged.

jaccola 2mo ago

> We can't all be zero-waste vegan community organisers lobbying for renewables and free education/healthcare Why? If you genuinely believe these things righteous and important why can’t everyone do them? Perhaps because you’re incentivised not to: it’s a waste of your time, someone else can do your share of the campaigning, non-vegan food tastes great etc.. This is exactly how incentives work, not some spineless person in a dark room saying “yes m’lord I’ll torture another child for an extra nickel” as the article portrays.

ball_of_lint 2mo ago

I'm proud to say that I am person number 1089456347 who is not part of the statistical masses.

brainwad 2mo ago

Incentives are also for when a principal just doesn't care about the difference between two possible choices. But maybe other people indirectly do, and an incentive like price can weigh the scales so that people indifferent to the choice choose the right one.