
Beware Prestige-Based Discretion - cinquemb
http://www.overcomingbias.com/2016/06/beware-prestige-based-discretion.html#comments
======
mpbm
Letting the most prestigious people make important decisions isn't the best
system, but it's probably better than the other options.

~~~
cinquemb
How would you define "most prestigious"? In the academic context: Best at the
grant hamster wheel? GPA maximization at $x university? Best politicking?
Number of papers? Actively solving relatively trivial problems for little
economic value for people who are `Best at the grant hamster wheel`? :P

~~~
mpbm
I don't think it's the sort of thing that yields to calculations, but I think
it does yield to consensus. So, generally speaking, the most prestigious
people are whoever other people agree are prestigious. Sort of like peer
review.

The "who should make decisions" question is a lot like the "is this logic
malicious" question. You can't answer it ahead of time. You just have to let
people make decisions, or let the logic run, hopefully in a controlled
context, and see what happens. If a preponderance of people agree it's good,
then it's probably good enough.

~~~
cinquemb
> _I don 't think it's the sort of thing that yields to calculations…_

"But we often have plenty good metrics that people don’t want to use."

"I think the problem is more fundamental; basic human prestige programming."

