Shared Article from experimental-history.com

Science is a strong-link problem

OR: How to eat fewer asparagus beetles

Adam Mastroianni @ experimental-history.com

There are two kinds of problems in the world: strong-link problems and weak-link problems.

Weak-link problems are problems where the overall quality depends on how good the worst stuff is. You fix weak-link problems by making the weakest links stronger, or by eliminating them entirely.

. . .

It’s easy to assume that all problems are like this, but they’re not. Some problems are strong-link problems: overall quality depends on how good the best stuff is, and the bad stuff barely matters. Like music, for instance. You listen to the stuff you like the most and ignore the rest.

. . .

Figuring out whether a problem is strong-link or weak-link is important because the way you solve them is totally different:

When you have a STRONG-LINK problem:

• Increase outliers/variance/weirdness because you’ll benefit from having more very good things
• Don’t gatekeep because you might accidentally keep the best out
• Ignore the worst
• Improve the best
• Accept risk, because the downside doesn’t matter.

When you have a WEAK-LINK problem:

• Decrease outliers/variance/weirdness because you’ll be harmed by having more very bad things
• Gatekeep because it keeps the worst out
• Improve the worst
• Ignore the best
• Avoid risk, because the downside is all that matters

. . .

Science is a strong-link problem.

In the long run, the best stuff is basically all that matters, and the bad stuff doesn’t matter at all. The history of science is littered with the skulls of dead theories.

. . . Here’s the crazy thing: most people treat science like it’s a weak-link problem….

— Adam Mastroianni, Science Is A Strong-Link Problem
Experimental History, 11 April 2023

By A.E. Stallings, from POETRY (May 2020); recently featured on Poetry Foundation’s Audio Poem of the day podcast.

Daedal

To build a labyrinth it takes
A twisted mind, a puzzled art,
A fractal branching of mistakes.

Drag out the shovels and the rakes,
The spirit level, sacred chart.
To build a labyrinth it takes

Shadows, stones, a way that snakes
And ladders to its shaky start;
An average mazing of mistakes,

The kind that everybody makes,
Set random intervals apart.
To build a labyrinth it takes

Dead ends that seem like lucky breaks,
The paths of bats that weave and dart
Through limestone caverns of mistakes.

The shaken Etch A Sketch awakes
A lost child buried in its heart.
To build a labyrinth it takes
Some good intentions, some mistakes.

— A.E. Stallings (2020)
Daedal, in POETRY (May 2020)