When optimization goes wrong: Caught in Mammon’s Grasp We return to my metaphor for maloptimization, or optimization failure, to describe different ways optimization processes often go wrong.
What is optimization? Optimization and optimization-like dynamics shape the behavior of systems like markets and societies, making even a high-level understanding of optimization valuable for navigating the modern world.
Beyond greed: Mammon as an analogy for maloptimization and wicked problems Analogies are fundamental to how humans navigate abstractions. "Mammon” is how I refer to the tendency for technology, social policy, and other goal-oriented human action to give rise to seemingly paradoxical and unintended consequences.
Book list - Rising Risks: Navigating the Modern Risk Society Complex risks, fueled by abstract and sometimes interrelated crises, are becoming a common feature of the modern world and our politics.
The lethal economics of corporate kung fu Does competition in market capitalism incentivize increasingly cleverer ways of bypassing economic competition? This is the “paradox” at the heart of my writing at Misaligned Markets.
What's the purpose of Misaligned Markets Misaligned Markets is the result of a long intellectual journey to understand the structure and moral dimensions of markets under capitalism.
