I've always considered Goodhart's Law to be "of the people," but the article offers only top down solutions. What is the solution when the decision-makers have subjected you to a Goodhartable system of incentives and don't have enough awareness, vision, or humility themselves to change the system as described in the article? Well, you play the game or get beat by those who do. Right up until the point when you all lose.
I agree that if you're the one in control, complaining about Goodhart's Law is a sort of learned helplessness. However for those not in control -- and this goes as well for scenarios with diffuse control such as large crowds and democracy -- Goodhart's Law is useful, in the way that naming any systemic ailment is useful.
Perhaps we can talk about the 'hard problem' of Goodhart's Law to separate it from the problem solved in the article. Does anyone have good advice for those living inside the hard problem?
I agree that if you're the one in control, complaining about Goodhart's Law is a sort of learned helplessness. However for those not in control -- and this goes as well for scenarios with diffuse control such as large crowds and democracy -- Goodhart's Law is useful, in the way that naming any systemic ailment is useful.
Perhaps we can talk about the 'hard problem' of Goodhart's Law to separate it from the problem solved in the article. Does anyone have good advice for those living inside the hard problem?