[marginalium]
Against Optimisation
17 Jan 2025
Against Optimisation. It’s very cute, peppered with stuff like:
The new god is called Optimization—and the disciples are legion.
but a skim will make you feel very validated if you’re irritated by the same kind of stuff the author is:
The most recent episode of one of America’s top podcasts—the Huberman Lab—is titled “Optimize your learning and creativity with science-based tools,”
I also like the pivot at the end, that we should be aiming for resilience rather than optimisation:
Resilience can often be produced by systems that feature:
- Diversity (lots of different kinds of components that work together are more robust than a uniform single structure, just as the Estonian power supply was augmented by a wide array of other electricity sources when one cable was severed);
- Redundancy (systems that are designed to work even after an unexpected failure or setback are more robust, illustrated by the Suez Canal, which had no backup option when the route became blocked).
Anthologies: Betterment, Gratification, Somatic Architecture, Wealth Architecture, On Aesthetics, On Being Fruitful, On Culture, On Leadership, Noetik