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Comment by sjwright | Hacker News Reader

> > You cannot compare the current state of things, beholden to reality, with a utopian implementation of some currently non-existent thing.

This feels like a fallacy worthy of a name. Does it have one?

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Maybe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_fallacy is closest?

"A choice between one realistic achievable possibility and another unrealistic solution that could in some way be better" is the definition on Wikipedia. Sounds pretty much spot-on.

The closest thing I can think of is "version 2 syndrome" or what Mythical Man Month described as "second-system effect". But it's not quite that. This cognitive problem tends be a cause of second-system effect.

Completely agree. I read that line twice when I read the article. It applies to so many things.

If no name yet let's call it _Archibald's Rule_. I met Jake at a conf and he is a solid yet approachable guy (and funny too).

What's the rule for rules that get named multiple times because nobody knows about them?

Seems mostly like The Matthew Effect[1], with a touch of Stigler's law of eponymy[2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_effect#Sociology_of_sc...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigler's_law_of_eponymy

These really don't get to the meat of the matter for me as these seem to be about giving credit. I think Nirvana Fallacy, mentioned in another comment is the right one.

I did say "If no name yet..."

It wasn't a jab at you or anybody, I just found the whole exchange pretty funny

XKCD's Standards is the closest I know: https://xkcd.com/927/

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