The Unintended Consequences of Measuring Things

Is our obsession with metrics actually making things worse?

Goodhart’s Law states that once a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. We can see examples of this all around us – from crime statistics that incentivise police to report fewer crimes to school league tables that pressure teachers to "teach to the test" at the expense of critical thinking and creativity.

Sometimes the results can be disastrous. In 19th-century India, a scheme incentivising the killing of poisonous snakes supposedly led to people breeding more of them. The so-called "cobra effect" has become a byword for how oversimplified metrics can come back to bite us.

So, should we stop measuring things altogether?

Find out in this explainer video from iluli by Mike Lamb – explaining the ideas and innovations changing our lives.

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0:00 Intro
0:41 Simplicity
1:19 Risks
2:08 The cobra effect
2:51 Goodhart’s Law
3:45 Lessons
4:33 Conclusion

[igctv]

The "Cobra Effect" stands as a cautionary tale of unintended consequences that arise from well-intentioned actions. The concept comes from a colonial-era anecdote, where British officials sought to reduce the cobra population in Delhi by offering a bounty for every snake killed.
Worth of watching this channel.

[futoifutomomodesu]

babe wake up, its time for videos I learnt more from than school.

[ookamizuri]

I thought at first from the title it was about how metric system is better than imperial system😭

But great video as usual👍
Thanks Mike!

[benabbesslimane]

Another great video as always ❤thank you and keep up the good work

[sazokuotsutsuki]

Beautifully delivered❤️‍🔥, sharing to close friends!!!

[Kang_Hee-ri]

Why do you only have a few subscribers?

iluli : metrics ain't everything

[amichayr]

When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure" beautiful.

[piphu]

Unfortunately metrics can become an end to themselves. For example, politicians need them to show people that their policies indeed make things better - and for that, it can be all too tempting to just show graphs constantly going upwards rather than numbers actually representing quality of life.

[whatsup]

Is pickup artist community which promote game, is it scientific or a scam? What r ur views on it? Expecting ur reply