Scientific Definition
Individual speed gains hide collective quality decline.
Plain-English Definition
Individual speed gains hide collective quality decline.
Feynman Explanation
Everyone moves faster. The product gets worse.
Core Principle
Individual speed gains hide collective quality decline.
Mechanisms
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Inputs (Triggers)
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Outputs (Behaviors)
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Behavioral Signature
Everyone moves faster. The product gets worse.
Examples
- AI-generated code that's faster to write and harder to maintain.
- Local optimization producing global degradation.
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Famous Experiments
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Design Principles
- Measure outcomes, not throughput.
Measurement Approaches
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Evidence
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The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Measure outcomes, not throughput.
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Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
When the agent acts, who's responsible?
Categorizing AI use cases by risk level.
Systematic skew in model behavior across groups.
Testing model behavior on hypothetical alternate inputs.
Adding noise to data to protect individual privacy.
Quantitative measures of model behavior across groups.
Training models across devices without centralizing data.
Bypassing model safety constraints.
Malicious instructions hidden in user input or retrieved content.
Adversarial testing of AI systems.
Foundational skills erode through AI offloading.
AI investment outpacing measurable productivity gains.