Long piece this week: commoncog.com/blog/the-right
The core idea here is that it's tempting to take ideas from one layer of abstraction and apply them to a different layer. But it's not usually a good idea to do so.
Conversation
This has lots of little implications. It's sort of tied to last week's post on neuroplasticity and practice: commoncog.com/blog/neuroplas
But there are many, many other instances where it 'feels' good to take ideas from a different level of abstraction and apply them elsewhere.
1
But these are nearly always mistaken.
Related example: at the individual level, the 'trigger-routine-reward' habit loop is enough for behavioural change.
But at the societal level, you need different ideas for behavioural change. Think: incentive systems design, not habits.
2
3
This post really belongs to 'category of thinking traps that smart, analytical people fall into'.
The post is not as clear as I want it to be. But I've spent 2 weeks on this, and multiple discussions with diff people, and I threw out 3 drafts. This is the best I can do for now.