There are certainly non-astrology forms of signalling, but can you name any non-signalling benefits of “rational” astrology? It seems to me that this link is really just covering some examples of signalling.
Yes: safe harbor laws that grant protection if best practices are followed. You might explain the laws as resulting from signaling concerns, but the benefits of the safe harbor protection are codified, and not based on people judging signaling. In particular, it’s worth noting that the benefits accrue even when other behaviors signal the opposite intention.
Consider OSHA rules as an example. Follow the rules, and you’re protected. You don’t get hit with OSHA compliance fines, and your insurance pays out in the event of an accident. If the latest safety research shows that the OSHA rules are insufficient, you can safely ignore the research while complaining about the costs of OSHA compliance, and nothing changes. If the latest research shows the OSHA rules demand behavior that harms worker safety, and you follow the research, you’re in violation and in trouble. This is true even if the research is public and well accepted.
Normally, a signaling model would be interpreted as having a person interpreting the signals and acting on them. That person might ignore private knowledge, but should offer some accommodation for a company following published, reviewed research. You could use a signaling model that includes lots of detail about how the signals are interpreted according to fixed rules without regard for other contexts, however I think that misses what makes signaling models strong: they adapt well to context. A signaling model that requires you to ignore context seems stretched a bit thin to me. I’d say that the model that says you just follow the rational astrology to get the benefits, without worrying about signaling, has fewer moving parts in this context.
(I would agree that for most rational astrologies, most of the benefits to be accrued are signaling benefits.)
your insurance pays out in the event of an accident.
In the United States, worker’s compensation insurance is no fault—the worker gets something whether or not the employer did anything wrong/was negligent. Damages are from a table ($X for Y injury, no punitive damages). The employer’s compliance with OSHA is mostly irrelevant in terms of payments to the worker.
I think that the conversation with your fire insurance company about the damage to the equipment / building would involve OSHA compliance issues and fire code issues, though. I suspect (but do not know) that the future cost of both that and workman’s comp insurance will depend on such things, even though the current payout for events that already happened doesn’t.
I don’t think the concept of “rational astrologies” helps anyone grasp the idea that they can benefit from following laws they don’t approve of if they’ll be punished for noncompliance. That’s one of the most basic forms of punishment avoidance.
Models can often be stretched to apply to regions where they only somewhat fit. I suspect that’s what’s going on here. The boundaries where we switch between models are often the most difficult to get right.
If I’m reading your comment correctly, you’re saying that the areas where the rational astrology model does better than the signaling model, are also areas where there are other, better models available. I had initially thought the rational astrology model did better in some areas. I now believe it does better than a pure signaling model in some areas, but that those areas might be ones where a different model does better still. I’ll see if I can think up an example where the RA model looks like the best option, but I currently suspect that area is small.
I still think the RA model has some explanatory points. In particular, I think it’s a useful explanation of why the social inertia exists, when the signals in question have no correlation to the desired quality. I think it’s a similar model to Schelling points in those cases, but I find it more intuitive and with much less prerequisite knowledge. (I think the Schelling point model is probably more accurate, but pays for it with added complexity and knowledge requirements.)
There are certainly non-astrology forms of signalling, but can you name any non-signalling benefits of “rational” astrology? It seems to me that this link is really just covering some examples of signalling.
Yes: safe harbor laws that grant protection if best practices are followed. You might explain the laws as resulting from signaling concerns, but the benefits of the safe harbor protection are codified, and not based on people judging signaling. In particular, it’s worth noting that the benefits accrue even when other behaviors signal the opposite intention.
Consider OSHA rules as an example. Follow the rules, and you’re protected. You don’t get hit with OSHA compliance fines, and your insurance pays out in the event of an accident. If the latest safety research shows that the OSHA rules are insufficient, you can safely ignore the research while complaining about the costs of OSHA compliance, and nothing changes. If the latest research shows the OSHA rules demand behavior that harms worker safety, and you follow the research, you’re in violation and in trouble. This is true even if the research is public and well accepted.
Normally, a signaling model would be interpreted as having a person interpreting the signals and acting on them. That person might ignore private knowledge, but should offer some accommodation for a company following published, reviewed research. You could use a signaling model that includes lots of detail about how the signals are interpreted according to fixed rules without regard for other contexts, however I think that misses what makes signaling models strong: they adapt well to context. A signaling model that requires you to ignore context seems stretched a bit thin to me. I’d say that the model that says you just follow the rational astrology to get the benefits, without worrying about signaling, has fewer moving parts in this context.
(I would agree that for most rational astrologies, most of the benefits to be accrued are signaling benefits.)
In the United States, worker’s compensation insurance is no fault—the worker gets something whether or not the employer did anything wrong/was negligent. Damages are from a table ($X for Y injury, no punitive damages). The employer’s compliance with OSHA is mostly irrelevant in terms of payments to the worker.
I think that the conversation with your fire insurance company about the damage to the equipment / building would involve OSHA compliance issues and fire code issues, though. I suspect (but do not know) that the future cost of both that and workman’s comp insurance will depend on such things, even though the current payout for events that already happened doesn’t.
That’s true. I have no idea how rates for worker’s comp insurance are set.
I don’t think the concept of “rational astrologies” helps anyone grasp the idea that they can benefit from following laws they don’t approve of if they’ll be punished for noncompliance. That’s one of the most basic forms of punishment avoidance.
Models can often be stretched to apply to regions where they only somewhat fit. I suspect that’s what’s going on here. The boundaries where we switch between models are often the most difficult to get right.
If I’m reading your comment correctly, you’re saying that the areas where the rational astrology model does better than the signaling model, are also areas where there are other, better models available. I had initially thought the rational astrology model did better in some areas. I now believe it does better than a pure signaling model in some areas, but that those areas might be ones where a different model does better still. I’ll see if I can think up an example where the RA model looks like the best option, but I currently suspect that area is small.
I still think the RA model has some explanatory points. In particular, I think it’s a useful explanation of why the social inertia exists, when the signals in question have no correlation to the desired quality. I think it’s a similar model to Schelling points in those cases, but I find it more intuitive and with much less prerequisite knowledge. (I think the Schelling point model is probably more accurate, but pays for it with added complexity and knowledge requirements.)