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Efficiency is dangerous and slowing down makes life better

psyche.co

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Re: Efficiency is dangerous and slowing down makes life better

#311

Post by zeroxfe »

SlavikCA wrote: post #72
shoo wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this way of framing things is only valid if outcomes of events are somewhat linear, but in real life this isn't true at all: some uninsured bad events can wipe you out completely, whereas insured bad events might not wipe you out. it doesn't matter if your expected value of not being wiped out was predicted to be 0.1 if you've gotten wiped out. the decision of purchasing insurance or not depends more on how many reso…

> for individuals with limited resources who will be wiped out if uninsured Usually, individuals with limited resources can't really be wiped out: there is not much to wipe out. Here is my perspective: I consider myself typical individual with limited resources: I'm mostly live on the my salary (Software dev), I don't really have major assets (20k car bought for cash, renting a house), have some savings (~30k cash).…

> Let's say I have auto accident and I'm liable for million dollars. The likelihood of such event is low. Such event probably would result in bankruptcy, but it's not much worse, then constantly paying extra for insurance. So, there is "no wiping out" in this seemingly catastrophic event.

Consider the same accident and you fracture your spine, leaving you paralyzed neck down. Insurance (at least in the US) affords you access to medical care, and access to follow up therapy and other resources to (hopefully) recover completely.

If you have limited resources and no insurance, the consequences are a lot worse than bankruptcy.

Re: Efficiency is dangerous and slowing down makes life better

#312

Post by Pick-A-Hill2019 »

"... what of the COVID-19 pandemic? Why hadn’t we stockpiled key supplies and machines, built up hospital capacity, or ensured the robustness of our supply chains? The reason, of course, is that it would have been seen as inefficient and profit-robbing. Money spent on masks and gowns gathering dust in a warehouse could always be put to more ‘productive’ use in the marketplace."

This is what matters right now.

Re: Efficiency is dangerous and slowing down makes life better

#313

Post by N1H1L »

bschne wrote: post #2

I've found "efficiency as the opposite of stability" a very powerful concept to think about - even though it's fairly simple, it seems to be almost a fundamental law. Whether it's about the economy at large, your own household, a supply chain, what have you - as soon as you optimize for efficiency by removing friction, you take all the slack/damping out of the system and become instantly more liable to catastrophic f…

But isn't this a subtle diss against capitalism or a purely market based system? A free market results in _efficient_ allocation of capital, resulting in a _fragile_ allocation.
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