Comments on: Unforseeable Consequences: Why We Have Principles http://www.codesimplicity.com/post/unforseeable-consequences-why-we-have-principles/ Tue, 27 Dec 2011 03:40:15 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Max Kanat-Alexander http://www.codesimplicity.com/post/unforseeable-consequences-why-we-have-principles/comment-page-1/#comment-2013 Max Kanat-Alexander Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:55:05 +0000 http://www.codesimplicity.com/?p=32#comment-2013 Well, my hope is that the principles that I'm evolving here actually cover both that 99% and that 1% situation. That is, the idea is that the <em>general</em> principles can't be too specific, or there's going to be some situation in which they fail. The important thing is to have good general principles that apply to <em>all</em> situations (by virtue of being natural laws, ideally) and then use your judgment on how to apply them in the practical situations you find yourself in. -Max Well, my hope is that the principles that I’m evolving here actually cover both that 99% and that 1% situation. That is, the idea is that the general principles can’t be too specific, or there’s going to be some situation in which they fail. The important thing is to have good general principles that apply to all situations (by virtue of being natural laws, ideally) and then use your judgment on how to apply them in the practical situations you find yourself in.

-Max

]]> By: Ape http://www.codesimplicity.com/post/unforseeable-consequences-why-we-have-principles/comment-page-1/#comment-2006 Ape Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:02:13 +0000 http://www.codesimplicity.com/?p=32#comment-2006 The problem is when your principles work for 99% of the situations, but backfire for the other 1%. The good news is that you are likely working in the 99% The problem is when your principles work for 99% of the situations, but backfire for the other 1%.

The good news is that you are likely working in the 99%

]]> By: Bookmarks about Patterns http://www.codesimplicity.com/post/unforseeable-consequences-why-we-have-principles/comment-page-1/#comment-601 Bookmarks about Patterns Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:00:15 +0000 http://www.codesimplicity.com/?p=32#comment-601 [...] - bookmarked by 2 members originally found by leesz on 2008-08-21 Code Simplicity: Unforseeable Consequences: Why We Have Principles http://www.codesimplicity.com/archives/32 - bookmarked by 4 members originally found by [...] [...] – bookmarked by 2 members originally found by leesz on 2008-08-21 Code Simplicity: Unforseeable Consequences: Why We Have Principles http://www.codesimplicity.com/archives/32 – bookmarked by 4 members originally found by [...]

]]> By: Max Kanat-Alexander http://www.codesimplicity.com/post/unforseeable-consequences-why-we-have-principles/comment-page-1/#comment-342 Max Kanat-Alexander Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:14:23 +0000 http://www.codesimplicity.com/?p=32#comment-342 Wow, yeah, that's a really interesting thing to think about! -Max Wow, yeah, that’s a really interesting thing to think about!

-Max

]]> By: Eric Howe http://www.codesimplicity.com/post/unforseeable-consequences-why-we-have-principles/comment-page-1/#comment-341 Eric Howe Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:12:08 +0000 http://www.codesimplicity.com/?p=32#comment-341 Methinks that all of this would apply equally well to finance. A little off-topic perhaps but I think it is high time for finance to become more of an engineering discipline (complete with silly things like fail safes, redundancies, personal liability, ...) than the current gambling free-for-all that we have now. Engineers learned their lessons through years of death and destruction; programmers are starting to learn their lessons through years of destruction (and maybe a little death); finance has been around longer than both and has caused more death and destruction than both combined but it is still based on little more than hope and delusion. Methinks that all of this would apply equally well to finance. A little off-topic perhaps but I think it is high time for finance to become more of an engineering discipline (complete with silly things like fail safes, redundancies, personal liability, …) than the current gambling free-for-all that we have now. Engineers learned their lessons through years of death and destruction; programmers are starting to learn their lessons through years of destruction (and maybe a little death); finance has been around longer than both and has caused more death and destruction than both combined but it is still based on little more than hope and delusion.

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