
Don't Touch Anything - paulorlando
https://unintendedconsequenc.es/dont-touch-anything/
======
jimrandomh
The message of this article (and the rest of the site) seems to be: Things you
do will have unintended consequences; you cannot predict these consequences;
they will be bad; therefore you shouldn't do anything.

This is a terrible position to take. The unintended bad consequences
described, in this post and in the other posts on the site, are all reasonably
predictable to anyone knowledgeable who's making a serious effort. And
sometimes projects _don 't_ have unintended bad consequences, or the
unintended bad consequences are worth it, or they would be manageable if only
someone bothered to predict them.

~~~
nkurz
_The message of this article (and the rest of the site) seems to be: Things
you do will have unintended consequences; you cannot predict these
consequences; they will be bad; therefore you shouldn 't do anything._

I think you might be bringing that interpretation to the site. At least,
reading the linked article, I don't find it there explicitly. Maybe you are
taking the "Don't Touch Anything" title too literally? The author speaks
positively of the attempts to reintroduce beavers to Scotland, and seems
cautiously optimistic about the attempts to eradicate the accidentally
introduced brown tree snake from Guam.

Looking at some of the other articles on the site, I see a message akin to
your correction. For example, instead of saying "don't do anything", this
article is about how "bounty" programs should be run differently to make them
more effective: [https://unintendedconsequenc.es/the-cobra-effect-
redesigned/](https://unintendedconsequenc.es/the-cobra-effect-redesigned/).
His recommendations sound about the same as your criticisms.

~~~
paulorlando
Thanks for reading through the other posts. I'm learning as I go on this
project. Funnily enough I had earlier been criticized (especially in the Cobra
Effect post) for daring to suggest that improvements could be made at all.

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RcouF1uZ4gsC
2018 BC: Don’t mess with nature because the gods are capricious and will get
offended at your hubris and will punish you.

AD 2018: Same except substitute some other term for “gods”.

It is manipulating nature that we learn about nature and uncover new things.
Ultimately, if it had not been for farming, we would never had landed a human
on the moon. Humans are the first earth species who is not limited to earth.
Within our lifetimes we could have humans successfully living on another
planet. Let us respect the intricacies of nature, but not get intimidated into
inaction and passivity. Our human ability to adapt earth to our needs on a
scale far above any other species is a feature not a bug.

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nine_k
tl;dr: many animal species were introduced to radically different habitats
(rabbits and dogs in Australia, pigs in Americas, etc) and changed the balance
there drastically and not to the better.

~~~
taneq
> ... and not to the better.

That just depends on the time scale. Everyone is fine with dingoes
("Australia's native dogs") despite them just being dogs that have been wild
here for a few thousand years. If pigs had been introduced in 500BC we'd be
campaigning to save them instead of trying to eradicate them.

~~~
paulorlando
Valid point. The unintended consequences do show differently across time after
a new equilibrium is reached.

