Pica seems like it’s Goodhart’s Law, with the added failure that the metric being maximized isn’t even clearly related to the problem you’re trying to solve.
Evaluate your startup by the sheer effort you’re putting in? That’s Goodhart’s Law. Evaluate it by how cool the office looks? That’s pica.
Evaluate your relationship by the sheer amount of physical affection? That’s Goodhart’s Law. Evaluate it by how much misery you put each other through “for love?” That’s pica.
I think our culture is starting to produce a suite of relationship metrics that more directly resemble relationship success and failure, such as “the five love languages” or “the four horsemen of the relationship apocalypse.” This lets people upgrade from pica to Goodhart’s Law.
“More touch, gifts, quality time...” and “less stonewalling, defensiveness, criticism, contempt” makes problems too if done mindlessly. When can I take time for myself? What if my partner’s annoying me? People have to think about when those metrics stop being helpful. But it’s a better place to start than pica metrics.
Pica seems like it’s Goodhart’s Law, with the added failure that the metric being maximized isn’t even clearly related to the problem you’re trying to solve.
Evaluate your startup by the sheer effort you’re putting in? That’s Goodhart’s Law. Evaluate it by how cool the office looks? That’s pica.
Evaluate your relationship by the sheer amount of physical affection? That’s Goodhart’s Law. Evaluate it by how much misery you put each other through “for love?” That’s pica.
I think our culture is starting to produce a suite of relationship metrics that more directly resemble relationship success and failure, such as “the five love languages” or “the four horsemen of the relationship apocalypse.” This lets people upgrade from pica to Goodhart’s Law.
“More touch, gifts, quality time...” and “less stonewalling, defensiveness, criticism, contempt” makes problems too if done mindlessly. When can I take time for myself? What if my partner’s annoying me? People have to think about when those metrics stop being helpful. But it’s a better place to start than pica metrics.
Really liked this connection, i added it to the pica tag