Some of my friends and I have started betting on our productivity, with smaller prizes for the person who starts the bet. We will be working together, and Friend A will say "I bet I can write the next 500 words of this essay in less than 20 minutes." Friend B replies "no way, this essay is too hard." Then A will say "Bet you I can. Let's set a timer, and if I fail, I'll buy you dinner, but if I succeed, you'll buy me a coffee."
We also race on assignments for prizes.
Are you sure you're rewarding the right thing? What if quality suffers in favor of speed?
This is the public group instrumental rationality diary for March 16-31.
Thanks to cata for starting the Group Rationality Diary posts, and to commenters for participating.
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