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The Cobra Effect

en.wikipedia.org

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Re: The Cobra Effect

#11

Post by jfoutz »

nateabele wrote: post #2

See also: nearly every agency of the US government.

I know right? Can you imagine how bad it would be if the department of defense wanted some sort of packet switched communication system that would survive a nuclear war? Geez, we really got lucky there.

Re: The Cobra Effect

#12

Post by smoyer »

It's interesting that this appeared on the front page at the same time as the announcement that Amazon would stop selling competing streaming video devices.

Re: The Cobra Effect

#13

Post by gweinberg »

It seems to me that the idea of the bounty wasn't bad, the problem is just that it was too high. If they just decreased the bounty to the point that raising cobras was no longer profitable rather than all the way to zero, people would still turn in the cobras they had rather than releasing them. And they might still catch an occasional cobra for a small bounty, if the opportunity presented.

Re: The Cobra Effect

#14

Post by PhasmaFelis »

agumonkey wrote: post #5
carsongross wrote: post #3

Yep, you get more of what you pay for. Apply to, for example, single motherhood: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/Screen%20S... Gang aft agley, indeed.

I don't get the graph's message. (I'm not smart)

My best guess is "something something good Christian marriage something something godless liberals something."

Re: The Cobra Effect

#15

Post by PhasmaFelis »

gweinberg wrote: post #13

It seems to me that the idea of the bounty wasn't bad, the problem is just that it was too high. If they just decreased the bounty to the point that raising cobras was no longer profitable rather than all the way to zero, people would still turn in the cobras they had rather than releasing them. And they might still catch an occasional cobra for a small bounty, if the opportunity presented.

Alternately, once they realized it wasn't working, announce that the bounty would end in a month, so that the breeders would hustle to kill all their cobras and bring them in.

(Or, to shift a little blame away from the British, maybe if the breeders hadn't been stupid/dickish enough to release a fuckload of live cobras in their neighbors' back yards.)

Re: The Cobra Effect

#16

Post by wtbob »

mikeash wrote: post #7
carsongross wrote: post #3

Yep, you get more of what you pay for. Apply to, for example, single motherhood: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/Screen%20S... Gang aft agley, indeed.

The typical response to this sort of chart is something like: the welfare state is destroying the family unit! But I look at this graph and I think: wow, there must have been a ton of people stuck in unhappy marriages before, who could now have better choices.

> But I look at this graph and I think: wow, there must have been a ton of people stuck in unhappy marriages before, who could now have better choices.

But at what cost to society, those around them and perhaps even themselves? There are worse things than being in an unhappy marriage!

Re: The Cobra Effect

#18

Post by eCa »

neoCrimeLabs wrote: post #10

This immediately made me think of bug bounties and the vulnerability black market. How long until the money gets good enough for people to start introducing obfuscated vulnerabilities into code in order to further profit from it at a later time? With increasing financial incentive and an open market it might be an increasing risk with opportunistic or disgruntled developers.

One mitigating factor is that it is easier to git blame a codebase than a cobra.

Re: The Cobra Effect

#20

Post by Steko »

agumonkey wrote: post #5
carsongross wrote: post #3

Yep, you get more of what you pay for. Apply to, for example, single motherhood: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/Screen%20S... Gang aft agley, indeed.

I don't get the graph's message. (I'm not smart)

While the linker wants to make the above point about welfare, the chart appears in the below article describing one facet of income inequality.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/10/how-amer...

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