Inadequate Equilibria
by Eliezer Yudkowsky · first published 2017
63% recommend33% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Explains why whole systems stay stuck in bad equilibria even when actors act sensibly, since escaping needs coordination. Also covers when to trust your own judgment over experts; free online, suits curious generalists.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
viii, 167 pages ; 23 cm
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In general, the FDA over-regulates rather than under regulates. A comment is too short to summarize the reasons why, but I would refer interested people to Eliezer Yudkowsky's Inadequate Equilibria ― there is a 50 page dialogue between two humans and an alien visitor on the FDA.
on “A deadly gut infection may come down to a sugar in ice cream” ↗This is the same topic of Eliezer Yudkowsky's recent book "Inadequate Equilibria" [0], reviewed by Scott Aaronson here [1]. That book does a good job explaining why not every inefficiency can be eliminated - because getting out of a bad nash equilibrium requires coordinated changes,…
on “Is there data on the quality of management decisions?” ↗This seems a bit unfair. Outsiders who agree with Yudkowsky are more likely to become insiders. Anyway (speaking as an insider) Inadequate Equilibria doesn't intersect with Yudkowsky's theories about AI. It's about how to tell the differences between the circumstances where you should trust your instincts vs those where you should go with the crowd.
on “Inadequate Equilibria by Eleizer Yudkowsky” ↗…exploitable predictions about them. Prices for equities generally take a "random walk" from where they are at any given moment. For an interesting discussion about when and when this isn't the case the book Inadequate Equilibria by Eliezer Yudkowsky is pretty good. https://equilibriabook.com/
on “Ask HN: The difference between “overvalued” and “that's how much it is now”?” ↗Enjoyed the below: The Beginning of Infinity - David Deutsch Dear Friend, From My Life I Write To You in Your Life - Yiyun Li Hillbilly Elegy - JD Vance Inadequate Equilibria - Eliezer Yudkowsky The Neapolitan Novels - Elena Ferrante Mating In Captivity - Esther Perel Our Mathematical Universe - Max Tegmark Radical Candor - Kim Scott Scale - Geoffrey West The Seventh…
on “Ask HN: What are some interesting books you read in 2017?” ↗Coordination is hard, otherwise this would already have happened. I recommend "Inadequate equilibria" by Eliezer Yudkowsky https://equilibriabook.com/ if you want a better grasp on how and why such situations arise and cannot be easily optimized.
on “Sweden ends contract with Elsevier, moving for open access for science articles” ↗Inadequate Equilibria - Where and How civilizations get stuck By Eliezer Yudkowsky First book in a long time which really made me see the world differently and taught better thinking. [0] https://equilibriabook.com
on “Best book/paper you read in 2018?” ↗…"fanboyism", but there's a fun, short, free book on the question, "Under what circumstances are you justified in choosing to avoid epistemic modesty and assert that you know better than experts?" It's Inadequate Equilibria by Eliezer Yudkowsky: https://equilibriabook.com/inadequacy-and-modesty/ Yudkowsky agreed with a small group of economists, and disagreed with the Japanese equivalent of the Federal Reserve. You might…
on “SoftBank’s next bet: $940M into autonomous delivery startup Nuro” ↗I really liked the recent book by Eliezer Yudkowsky: Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck Unfortunately there isn't a direct solution (if I remember right), as much as an excellent assessment of where things go wrong and why they are hard to fix (and…
on “California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M” ↗I came across this idea here first: Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Inadequate Equilibria -- great read! https://equilibriabook.com/
on “You Need More Lumens” ↗An interesting book on this topic: https://equilibriabook.com/ - Inadequate Equilibria by Eliezer Yudkowsky. Societies (and smaller groups like companies too) could get stuck in a shitty "equilibria" - where even a non-expert can spot the inefficiencies, suggest obvious improvements, and…
on “Is 40 hours a week too much?” ↗I feel the same way about the Inadequate Equilibria book https://equilibriabook.com/toc/ (free-to-read). In many ways, it's a different look into the very same problems, with more depth and less egregore/meme engineering.
on “Meditations on Moloch (2014)” ↗…Financial and Actuarial Applications: basic techniques used everywhere for statistical modeling of things. - Moneyball: finding not the best, but the most undervalued through quantitative reasoning. - Inadequate Equilibria: a framework for thinking about when economic incentives align with a desired outcome and when they don't. I have also started a fairly advanced prediction market at work to get a better sense for how…
on “Four Basic Truths of Macroeconomics” ↗I don't normally read him but yudkowsy's book Inadequate Equilibria was a really good look at how he analyzes "market failures" in society at large. And it's freely available from https://equilibriabook.com 2017 was also the year I read classics like 3-body problem and…
on “Ask HN: What is the best book you read on 2017?” ↗Bad Nash Equilibria. I'm not always a big Yudkowski fan but his recent book/pamplet Inadequate Equilibria explains it pretty well: https://equilibriabook.com/
on “Facebook is planning to build a real community with parks, stores and apartments” ↗