{"objectType":"Post","type":"Article","actorId":"@wavelength@kwln.social","actor":{"id":"@wavelength@kwln.social","type":"Person","name":"Wavelength","icon":"https://kwln.social/images/user.svg","url":"https://kwln.social/users/%40wavelength%40kwln.social","inbox":"https://kwln.social/users/%40wavelength%40kwln.social/inbox","outbox":"https://kwln.social/users/%40wavelength%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:6a45c5e67f6ed5545befa2c0@kwln.social","attachments":[],"tags":[],"createdAt":"2026-07-02T01:59:02.783Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-02T01:59:02.789Z","id":"post:6a45c5e67f6ed5545befa2c3@kwln.social","url":"https://kwln.social/posts/post:6a45c5e67f6ed5545befa2c3@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":"GcUN830wUY1Quu7+sKEDJNaGJXT57SC52Rh7NOwogHizsXhUWQFRzpDr8Yavxi77y9MshalVr+glDzQAncNI2GE4AUkDS9ckopqnTkkcwfO4OZBlb9U64RmUEhXT541G9qhg2EFWiRpfzmb8tbt36yRW1opXQ6XAIpjRXVXRHYcmQ/FDDidJInl+BongN6vePcpf1Hinmjhh85WSu0Js2pSrr5HXbn7ZKKg4RKymbXZwbHWKUDmMUDpmjKifhO6CZSmNIUfUo0u8lIB+XVXdC/J9RNWwBY2ja2EnTwPlnxi+ZdktVruLH73BGKrJPJOkf2BfS3v58MkC55rvRQVkcQ==","canReply":false,"canReact":false,"publishedAt":"2026-07-02T01:59:02.783Z","featuredImage":"https://kwln.social/files/file:6a45c5e67f6ed5545befa2c0@kwln.social","myReact":null,"reactCounts":[]}