= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
RobinZ comments on Doing your good deed for the day - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (54)
This reminds me of an article I read about taxi drivers who would go home early after making their daily quota instead of staying on the road longer when business was good. Everyone (the drivers, their company, the potential customers) would be better off if they kept working.
Similarly, when people meet their daily quota of good deeds, they stop being good, even though it would be better for everyone (the do-gooder, their society, and the people they counterfactually could have been good to) if they kept doing good.
Is there a general quota-bias at work here? Or is my pattern-finding algorithym misfiring?
Well, the drivers would be better off in terms of money, but this way they get to enjoy the rest of the day more than if they'd keep working. Don't confuse being better off in terms of money, and being better off in general.
(Of course, it may be that they'd also be better off in general if they kept working, but that conclusion doesn't seem certain based on what you've said so far.)
Getting off early is a good thing, but see Mycroft65536 regarding poker: they would do better by knocking off early on bad days and working longer when business is good. Either they would (a) get more money working the same hours or (b) work fewer hours for the same money. Either way, it works.