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Goodhart's law
Too Much Efficiency Makes Everything Worse: Overfitting and the Strong Version of Goodhart's Law
Jascha Sohl-Dicksteinsohl-dickstein.github.iothe McNamara fallacy, as it came to be known, refers to our tendency to focus on the most quantifiable measures, even if doing so leads us from our actual goals. Put simply, we try to measure what we value, but end up valuing what we measure.
Why Everything is Becoming a Game
Named after the economist Charles Goodhart, the principle states, “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Measurement is only useful when it guides you and adds context to a larger picture, not when it consumes you. Each number is simply one piece of feedback in the overall system.
James Clear • Atomic Habits
As Blyth notes, every intervention is subject to Goodhart’s Law: “Targeting any variable long enough undermines the value of the variable.”
Tim O'Reilly • Wtf?
Remember Goodhart's Law when setting targets and goals:
When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.