Hacker News Reader

> So what does he think the lesson is instead? “To watch out for programs being created in situations where where the arrogance is so strong and the power differential is so intense that evidence can be ignored.”

Like stack ranked performance reviews, and arbitrary firing targets.

View on HN

Or, despite the assurance that using it as an "argument against government intervention of any kind… misses the point," almost any situation where government is involved. Because especially national government solutions have by nature an extreme power differential, are almost always conceived in the arrogance of unchallenged authority, and affect such complex systems, they almost invariably create a wide array of perverse incentives.

>the power differential is so intense that evidence can be ignored

This is a good point from the article to expand on, it's not just coincidence that the Hanoi rat massacre and the Delhi cobra hunt both feature colonial governments.

That quote applies to just about every example given on the perverse incentive Wikipedia page.

A government need not be colonial to be aloof.

Well of course not, but it's a pretty strong risk factor.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com