I think capitalism staddles the line between these two modes: an inventor or well-function firm will optimize by making modifications that they actually understand, but the way the market optimizes products is how Scott and Abram describe it: you get a lot of stuff that you don’t attempt to understand deeply, and choose whichever one looks best. While I am generally a fan of capitalism, there are examples of “adversarial subsystems” that have been spun up as a result of markets—the slave trade and urban pollution (e.g. smog) come to mind.
I think capitalism staddles the line between these two modes: an inventor or well-function firm will optimize by making modifications that they actually understand, but the way the market optimizes products is how Scott and Abram describe it: you get a lot of stuff that you don’t attempt to understand deeply, and choose whichever one looks best. While I am generally a fan of capitalism, there are examples of “adversarial subsystems” that have been spun up as a result of markets—the slave trade and urban pollution (e.g. smog) come to mind.