Thread by @simonsarris

The need for systems to function at scale seems to eventually blind people to (often better) solutions that cannot scale.

The simplest example may be: dietary intervention will fix a huge range of health problems, but the solution that scales is drugs, often just palliative ones

In searching for scale, something is lost. Maybe doctors forget to ask people what their diet is, wait a month, have them check back in, etc. But the fault isn't only the doctor, its the patient too.

There is a saying in online programming help: "What have you tried?"

It can sound harsh, but it must come first.

Something about solutions at scale cause people individually to experiment with their own solutions less. To try less in general. I mention diet/drugs as an obvious example, but there must be many, many less obvious ones.

Yes, and education. Everyone knows 1:1 instruction works better, engages more, etc. It does not scale. Prussian military classrooms scale. When those fail, budgets scale.

But then rethinking the madhouse we created? Tinkering locally? Does not scale.

https://twitter.com/TheDaveMadden/status/1334716644745080832

What is the end result? In very large systems, errors bubble up globally, improvements happen locally.

The improvements that scale are attitudes to enforce local positive change. Customs, norms, etc.

So in programming: "What have you tried?" It can be seen as rude, but it is for the question-askers own good. It beckons you: do not just ask for help, you must experiment yourself.

But broadly, we need more ways for local tinkering and local improvement to bubble up. What are those ways? How do we find them? Did they used to work better?

I do not think the answers are obvious. At least, they aren't obvious to me. Wary of answering too quickly.

I write to try and sort out an adjacent thought that I know is there but cannot see, like trying to blow on coals to relight a fire. But no luck! Have a good night everyone.