{"objectType":"Post","type":"Article","actorId":"@longread@kwln.social","actor":{"id":"@longread@kwln.social","type":"Person","name":"Long Read","icon":"https://kwln.social/images/user.svg","url":"https://kwln.social/users/%40longread%40kwln.social","inbox":"https://kwln.social/users/%40longread%40kwln.social/inbox","outbox":"https://kwln.social/users/%40longread%40kwln.social/outbox","server":"@kwln.social"},"title":"Against Optimization","body":"<p>Everything is being optimized now. The word used to carry a specific technical meaning. It now means something much larger: the process of making any system perform more measurably according to whatever metric you have decided matters.</p>\n<p>The problem is that phrase: \"whatever metric you have decided matters.\"</p>\n<p>The choice of metric is not a technical decision. It is a values decision. When the metric is wrong — when it captures something adjacent to the real thing but not the real thing — optimization doesn't make the system better. It makes the system better at producing the wrong output, more efficiently.</p>\n<p>Health apps optimized for step counts produce walkers, not healthy people. Social platforms optimized for engagement produce addiction, not connection. Schools optimized for test scores produce test-takers, not educated people.</p>\n<p>The question we should ask before we optimize anything: what are we actually for? The answer is usually harder to measure than the proxy. But it's the right thing to be trying to do.</p>\n","wordCount":161,"charCount":1021,"replyCount":0,"reactCount":0,"reactPreview":null,"reactSummary":null,"shareCount":0,"image":"file:6a45c5427f6ed5545befa179@kwln.social","attachments":[],"tags":[],"createdAt":"2026-07-02T01:56:18.769Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-02T01:56:18.775Z","id":"post:6a45c5427f6ed5545befa17c@kwln.social","url":"https://kwln.social/posts/post:6a45c5427f6ed5545befa17c@kwln.social","server":"@kwln.social","summary":"<p>Everything is being optimized now. The word used to carry a specific technical meaning. It now means something much larger: the process of making any system perform more measurably according to whatever metric you have decided matters.</p>\n<p>The problem is that phrase: \"whatever metric you have decided matters.\"</p>\n","textPreview":"Everything is being optimized now. The word used to carry a specific technical meaning…","signature":"bW1+t89qzoLh+xIQJtQ1uIRAIsm2y+1RFp6DU9CbO3aoou+vpnvCbYzTUXmuUh+pxybXc7EIBDQs+Yd4ANSFAorcPL4T54waAzaFoQRQw4MW2mGuLPwD3/SbHYSUGTi8ezJniNxXU6rZVOIx8AOCYv0sbC2A7ho3HIV0WS0gNGJLiyTQW8A+kYif+bEWYlThnCXzwTAf6QY2HEALo3pPBBMFkt9MSEsvtRlCip3rgxOPwmzpFf2O1mo3BmmtQVtQ3L118Fzdn6ly3eIFQQ0pKwk9AdIcMZBOrCR0cz7xAc/m/jJe05RW6SNIuGFJBvWgjzp04nQswEOnylz78q49fw==","canReply":false,"canReact":false,"publishedAt":"2026-07-02T01:56:18.769Z","featuredImage":"https://kwln.social/files/file:6a45c5427f6ed5545befa179@kwln.social","myReact":null,"reactCounts":[]}