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Donating forks to the dining hall

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Re: Donating forks to the dining hall

#141

Post by buildsjets »

pjc50 wrote: post #107
TeMPOraL wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a closed system, you could grow the commons until there's no scarcity anymore, and thus no tragedy either. This stops working once some "entrepreneur" figures your commons is their arbitrage opportunity, and opens the system to the outside world.

Ooh, you could start "forkr.com", a just-in-time peer-to-peer fork leasing service!

I'm taking this disgusting train to it's logical conclusion. Seeking VC to start my "mouthsharing" company, where you can hire someone to pre-chew your food up for you, like a baby bird.

Re: Donating forks to the dining hall

#142

Post by buildsjets »

marssaxman wrote: post #47

I love this spirit. In the office where I work, the main door locks whenever it closes, so the first person to arrive each morning props the door open for everyone else. Well, a new tenant moved in to one of the other units, and they started taking our doorstop. Morning after morning we had to go find it and retrieve it, for weeks! One day it occurred to me that I didn't have to complain to management, or get mainten…

Please tell me you did not work at Uvalde Elementary School.

Re: Donating forks to the dining hall

#143

Post by red_admiral »

bombcar wrote: post #139
Jun8 wrote: post #137

There's a common pattern in population dynamics that I've observed, which probably has a formal name: A given system with (to simplify) two types of behavior: good and bad will tolerate and self correct up to certain percentage of bad actors (call this the jerk threshold, JT) after which all participants switch to the bad behavior. Examples are line formation for a service, cutting people off in traffic, stealing fro…

They've actually had to try to make people more of a jerk in the midwest, and instruct them on why the "zipper merge" is NOT bad: https://www.dot.state.mn.us/zippermerge/ Otherwise if there's a sign that says "Left Lane Closed 10 Miles Ahead" everyone will get in the right lane for ten miles .

Arguably, unless traffic is free-flowing at maximum speed, doing the zipper merge is in fact the non-jerk option.

Re: Donating forks to the dining hall

#144

Post by incanus77 »

bombcar wrote: post #139
Jun8 wrote: post #137

There's a common pattern in population dynamics that I've observed, which probably has a formal name: A given system with (to simplify) two types of behavior: good and bad will tolerate and self correct up to certain percentage of bad actors (call this the jerk threshold, JT) after which all participants switch to the bad behavior. Examples are line formation for a service, cutting people off in traffic, stealing fro…

They've actually had to try to make people more of a jerk in the midwest, and instruct them on why the "zipper merge" is NOT bad: https://www.dot.state.mn.us/zippermerge/ Otherwise if there's a sign that says "Left Lane Closed 10 Miles Ahead" everyone will get in the right lane for ten miles .

Contrast that with Oregon, where everyone will stay in both lanes until one car length short of ten miles.

Re: Donating forks to the dining hall

#145

Post by hgomersall »

wjnc wrote: post #59
jhbadger wrote: post #3

Reminds of of the replacement of "threeks" at the UW-Madison campus in the 1980s. At the time, it was common for satirical parties to win student elections and do odd things like cover the campus with plastic flamingos. One of the satirical parties was upset that the UW-Madison cafeteria didn't have true forks (with four tines) but only "threeks" (forks with three tines). So they decided to work with friends at North…

Don’t tell me “fork” and “four” are related. Did my homework: “Old English forca, force (denoting a farm implement), based on Latin furca ‘pitchfork, forked stick’; reinforced in Middle English by Anglo-Norman French furke (also from Latin furca ).” Four in Latin is quattuor. Scared me there.

It definitely is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0CmaLgxLDE0

Re: Donating forks to the dining hall

#146

Post by red_admiral »

Jun8 wrote: post #137

There's a common pattern in population dynamics that I've observed, which probably has a formal name: A given system with (to simplify) two types of behavior: good and bad will tolerate and self correct up to certain percentage of bad actors (call this the jerk threshold, JT) after which all participants switch to the bad behavior. Examples are line formation for a service, cutting people off in traffic, stealing fro…

The opposite can happen too. Scott Alexander's old post "In favour of niceness, community and civilisation" quotes an Atlantic article [1] for an example of a model where all of a country's officials can flip from mostly-corrupt to honest at short notice, once corruption falls below a threshold. A lot of other threshold situations like the one you described feature in that article too - including, sadly, a "Rwanda" model for how when inter-group animosity crosses a threshold you can end up with genocide.

As far as I can tell, the formal name is "population dynamics".

[1] https://archive.is/BXq66

Re: Donating forks to the dining hall

#147

Post by gojomo »

Jun8 wrote: post #137

There's a common pattern in population dynamics that I've observed, which probably has a formal name: A given system with (to simplify) two types of behavior: good and bad will tolerate and self correct up to certain percentage of bad actors (call this the jerk threshold, JT) after which all participants switch to the bad behavior. Examples are line formation for a service, cutting people off in traffic, stealing fro…

See also: 'broken windows theory': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory

Though this concept isn't as pat and reliable as in its most-simplistic formulations – you can't fix all crime with aesthetic enforcement – it captures real human tendencies to 'flock' in the space of norms-of-behavior, using visible cues of what will or won't be tolerated. And, it has applicability outside of just literal 'policing'.

Keeping spaces/communities far from any chaotic boundary where people start to wonder - "what can I get away with? does anyone confront/correct problems?" - can save a lot on overall defection/enforcement losses in the long run.

Re: Donating forks to the dining hall

#148

Post by FireInsight »

jhbadger wrote: post #3

Reminds of of the replacement of "threeks" at the UW-Madison campus in the 1980s. At the time, it was common for satirical parties to win student elections and do odd things like cover the campus with plastic flamingos. One of the satirical parties was upset that the UW-Madison cafeteria didn't have true forks (with four tines) but only "threeks" (forks with three tines). So they decided to work with friends at North…

Why weren't the administrations pleased and why is it obvious? Did they stop the trade completely or truly reverse it afterwards?

Re: Donating forks to the dining hall

#149

Post by myko »

red_admiral wrote: post #143
bombcar wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've actually had to try to make people more of a jerk in the midwest, and instruct them on why the "zipper merge" is NOT bad: https://www.dot.state.mn.us/zippermerge/ Otherwise if there's a sign that says "Left Lane Closed 10 Miles Ahead" everyone will get in the right lane for ten miles .

Arguably, unless traffic is free-flowing at maximum speed, doing the zipper merge is in fact the non-jerk option.

ugh tell that to the idiots who give me the finger for zipper merging in Columbus, OH

Re: Donating forks to the dining hall

#150

Post by mrguyorama »

buildsjets wrote: post #141
pjc50 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ooh, you could start "forkr.com", a just-in-time peer-to-peer fork leasing service!

I'm taking this disgusting train to it's logical conclusion. Seeking VC to start my "mouthsharing" company, where you can hire someone to pre-chew your food up for you, like a baby bird.

You're forgetting an NFT for all my finance bro friends to pump and dump
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