Goodhart's law

Goodhart's Law:

When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.

Goodhart's Law applies to [[feedback system]] with [[humans in the loop]]. It does not apply to [[feed-forward]] systems.

Any system including people is a kind of feedback system, because people are smart. We are [[agent | agents]]. We observe outcomes and change behavior in response to system pressures. [[Evolution]]! The measure will cease to be a good measure when participants become aware of it and optimize for the measure, rather than for the outcome that the measure was intended to proxy.

[[Evolution]]

Measuring something? Be careful how you [[measure it]].