On: Colombia is considering legalizing its cocaine industry

[alpaca128]

It tends to backfire so well there's a name for it[0]. And the current drug economy isn't just going to disappear just because someone else wants to pay for it.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra_effect

[alex_smart → alpaca128]

I am about zero percent surprised that this is named after something that happened in India. Our entire country is built with layers upon layers of incorrect economical/political stimuli and their unintended consequences.

Example: Some measures taken in the 60s and 70s to increase grain production caused groundwater levels in some states to deplete alarmingly a few decades later. To protect the groundwater levels, a law was passed in 2009 that now, along with the original measures, causes the pollution level of the national capital shoot through the roof (pm 2.5 > 500) every winter.

[godelski → alex_smart]

A lot of these, and the Cobra effect, are really consequences of Goodheart's Law[0]:

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

These should make people think carefully about the metrics and targets used, but that seldom seems to happen.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law