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What does society overcomplicate?
Here is Ben Casnocha's list, to skip the explanations:
1. Losing Weight
2. Becoming a Better Writer
3. Becoming a Better Entrepreneur
4. Becoming a Better Parent
Ben says they are hard, but also simple. I view #1 and #2 as simple, for reasons similar to Ben's. The hardest thing about being a parent is knowing when to punish and when to ignore. The hardest thing about being an entrepreneur is, I suspect, other (competing) entrepreneurs. I will nominate being happy as overcomplicated by society. Your thoughts?
Addendum: Bryan Caplan -- a man who does not overcomplicate -- chimes in.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on February 18, 2007 at 07:04 PM in Education | Permalink
Comments
Society is one of those buzzwords that people like to use to attach blame to something nonspecific. Is he saying that without a society, these things would be easier? I at least prefer society to the absence of one. Or maybe he wants a different society. Either way, the title could easily be "what do markets overcomplicate?", "what do market failures overcomplicate", "what do asymmetry's of information overcomplicate?", or perhaps "what do entrepreneurs overcomplicate?" In every case, his objection seems to be to consumption of books, videos, seminars, etc. that profess to help people in these areas. I agree with this objection, but if everyone else wisened up then this market would go away, and it would probably actually get harder to be an entrepreneur in that respect.
Posted by: Aaron Fix at Feb 18, 2007 7:26:12 PM
I'll have to disagree with Tyler's point about entrepreneurship. A much harder to task is to gauge what the customer wants, how much the customer is willing to pay, and whether the product can be produced at a profit at that price. In fact, it's a bad sign when there are no competing entrepreneurs. It probably means there isn't much of a market for the product.
Posted by: Tim at Feb 18, 2007 7:46:48 PM
I'd second what Tim has to say; as an entrepreneur I spend much less time worrying about competitors and much more time worrying that my own business will implode for reasons that have nothing to do with anyone else.
Posted by: Emmett at Feb 18, 2007 8:25:08 PM
I think the hardest thing about being an entreprenuer is deciding which ideas to pursue and which to discard.
Posted by: tim lundeen at Feb 18, 2007 8:36:48 PM
Paying for medical care.
Posted by: Steve Sailer at Feb 18, 2007 9:04:45 PM
I completely disagree with the Becoming An Entrepreneur and Becoming a Better Parent. I am neither of the above but I know there are more things for entrepreneurs to be concerned with other than just competing with other entrepreneurs. I know that there are more things to being a parent than punishing and ignoring. Entrepreneurs have to be concerned with earning a profit and keeping there business going. With unlimited liability,if entrepreneurs lose the business, then they lose everything. I also have to agree with the above posts by Tim and Emmett, entrepreneurs do have to be concerned with what to sell. As parents, they are trying to raise a responsible adult. That requires more than punishing and ignoring. As for #1 and #2, yes they are hard but are not as simple as Ben Conascha seems to believe.
Posted by: Darren Hill at Feb 18, 2007 10:31:30 PM
1. Investing. buy and hold the global market portfolio at the lowest expense possible. this is not hard. this is probably the biggest no brainer simple thing that people spend huge amounts of time and $$ on only to do worse.
2. putting together a winning sports teams. Avoid the knuckleheads and crackheads. get good attitude role players to go with the stars. Don't have the coach be a screamer. don't give big money to a free agent who had one great year (his contract year).
3. publishing. send your stuff out, when its rejected take the reports seriously, try to improve it. never give up. work on more than one thing at a time. never give up. read widely and deeply. never give up.
Posted by: kevin at Feb 18, 2007 10:39:01 PM
Well 1 and 2 are spot on. I'd also add that Ph.D. students over complicate research - that is just about seeing what has been said, and then finding something new and interesting to say.
Posted by: Robin Hanson at Feb 18, 2007 11:01:40 PM
Kevin, "never give up" is just terrible advice. Most people should try lots of things, and then give up on most of them, only continuing on with a few.
Posted by: Robin Hanson at Feb 18, 2007 11:04:00 PM
Thanks so much Robin, I shall now take your advice and give up posting to this blog. good luck counseling your PhD students to seriously consider giving up their career if things don't go well right away.
Posted by: kevin at Feb 18, 2007 11:08:56 PM
Not to be ageist or anything, but what would an 18-year old know about #4?
As for #1, your buddy Seth Roberts' claim to fame is that what sounds "simple" actually requires some cleverness in implementation.
Posted by: tc at Feb 18, 2007 11:25:08 PM
Oh, Robin, only if it was that simple... Quite a motivation, don't you think?
Posted by: Andre at Feb 19, 2007 1:28:04 AM
"The hardest thing about being a parent is knowing when to punish and when to ignore."
I think I'm inclined to agree with that Alfie Kohn here (if that's what I'm doing). As an economist you may be predisposed to think about incentives, but don't forget that when you make up rules, the kids are smart enough to know it's you who made them, and that you could have made them differently. And I'm pretty sure you want them to think like that, so that they aren't easily manipulated by, say, politicians, offering them carrots and sticks when they become adults.
You wonder when to punish. I believe in never punishing, but acting reasonably according to what the children do. If I take them to a park, and they start fighting with other kids, then I can't take them to the park anymore. Not to punish them, but to protect the other kids --- and it's important that they understand the difference. Once I'm confident they won't do it again we can return to the park...
I think the same way with rewards: If they do something that makes me happy, I say so, and if they do something that saves me work, look, now there's more time to be spent with you doing something fun!
Posted by: Harald Korneliussen at Feb 19, 2007 2:49:45 AM
Such a fascinating question. Is it society that overcomplicates our efforts to be happy -- or just ourselves, our human nature? Like eating, where the formula is simple--eat less, eat better, exercise more--the formula for happiness is pretty simple, too. I'd say the essential elements are fun, energy, peace of mind, and love. The complicated part is doing the things that will boost these element of our lives. It's hard work to be happy!
Posted by: Gretchen Rubin at Feb 19, 2007 6:12:17 AM
Such a fascinating question. Is it society that overcomplicates our efforts to be happy -- or just ourselves, our human nature? Like eating, where the formula is simple--eat less, eat better, exercise more--the formula for happiness is pretty simple, too. I'd say the essential elements are fun, energy, peace of mind, and love. The complicated part is doing the things that will boost these element of our lives. It's hard work to be happy!
Posted by: Gretchen Rubin at Feb 19, 2007 6:14:22 AM
I disagree that #1 is as simple as he suggests. Exercise requires skill and knowledge, not least to avoid injury. The older you get this becomes more complicated. Cooking requires a similar investment. It tends to get in the way of blogging.
Posted by: knackeredhack at Feb 19, 2007 6:43:35 AM
Perhaps marriage, or just living together with a loved
mate. It ain't easy be any means, but being open and
honest with one's self and with the loved-one seems to
go a very long way.
But then again, I'm still working on it....
Posted by: glenn at Feb 19, 2007 7:12:08 AM
It isn't ageism to say an 18 year old isn't the right person to speak on any of these points. When I was 18 I thought just about everything was simpler than older adults thought. I have since learned differently. And 18 year olds are especially biased on the subject of parenting, since they only remember the teenage years and not the breast feeding, potty training, or nights searching Dr. Spock to see if a weird sounding cough requires a trip to the ER.
And he is most wrong on writing. Every successful writer I know learned from a combination of good classes and good editors. Reading more and writing more isn't enough, you have to learn to get feedback and to apply it correctly as well.
Posted by: DK at Feb 19, 2007 7:53:33 AM
Canoncha gets it wrong on writing. It's not enough to read more and write more. You need to have someone else critique your writing, knowledgably and mercilessly, and you have to incorporate that critique into your future work.
Posted by: The Other Brock at Feb 19, 2007 8:24:26 AM
Casnocha says re no. 1: "There are only two things to remember: Eat less and exercise more. If people followed these two, basic rules, I guarantee you'd lose weight."
Ths reminds me of a Monty Python parody of a how-to TV show in which the host teaches you how to play the flute: "You blow in here and run your fingers up and down here."
IOW, the real question is, HOW do you eat less and exercise more?
Posted by: jp at Feb 19, 2007 10:20:52 AM
Anything can have a simple answer. That doesn't mean it's correct, or feasible to implement.
This kid reminds me of all those dozens of pop songs that have entreated us all just to love each other more for the sake of world peace.
Posted by: Christina at Feb 19, 2007 11:48:36 AM
Losing weight really is as simple as burning more calories than you ingest.
But as jp pointed out, the trick is getting yourself to do that, and then, once you've done that, to not relapse. The relapse part is the hardest in my opinion, the human body, once it has put on weight and kept it there for some time, seems to "remember" that this weight is normal, and "tries" to regain that normalcy again, with a bit more just in case another weight loss tragedy occurs in the future then there will be some extra cushion that may carry you over til you can regain your "normal" weight.
So perhaps the best weight loss advice is similar to the old canard about investing in stocks: Buy stocks that go up. If they don't go up, don't buy them. With weight loss the best approach is to not get overweight to begin with.
Posted by: happyjuggler0 at Feb 19, 2007 12:03:10 PM
To jp on eating less and exercising more: Eat better stuff. It's been said before, which I guess is Casnocha's point, but eating more vegies and whole grains will give you ample energy for exercising on fewer calories than the typical high fat, high sugar diet. I'm a runner and biker and eat to a "crunchy" diet, and it fuels me fine. Granted, plenty of folks find such a diet hard to hew to.
Posted by: Tim Gray at Feb 19, 2007 12:45:33 PM
Actually none of these are necessarily easy, although probably #'s 1 and 2
are simpler for most people
Regarding #1, well, there really are people who have hormonal or genetic
problems that make it so that even pretty vigorous amounts of avoiding
eating while exercise just do not do much to get their weight down. There
are some pretty large variations out there in terms of the tendency to
overweightedness. Hence, easy to say "eat less, exercise more," but large
variations in results across people on the effectiveness of those.
On #2, this is also not all that simple. So, how do people become better
writers? Buy a copy of Strunk and White and follow all theri cookie cutter
rules? I would warn that part of this may be a matter of "writing for what"?
If you want to write a great novel to sell in France or a philosophy paper
to be read seriously in Germany, one will use very different writing styles
than if one is writing a paper to be published in an economics journal, or if
one is writing a memo to a boss about what the organization should do (on that
one, not more than one page, unless (s)he asked for it to be).
Better Entrepreneur? I would just warn/remind everyone that the rate of
success among entrepreneurs is far lower than most people know or realize.
We do not tell students that because we need entrepreneurs to maintain the
vitality of the economy, but it is extremely hard to make it, and studies
suggest that a lot of the skills involve personality traits that may not be
easy for just anyone to pick up or emulate very well.
As for being a good parent??? Give me a break. Kids do the darndest things,
and always have.
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Feb 19, 2007 5:16:49 PM
The markets here (losing weight, how to be this, how to be that) is people offering, and trying to sell, their own opinion on whatever they feel they are an expert in. Which is what many people have done here in the comments section...for free.
Posted by: Abby at Feb 19, 2007 11:23:51 PM
I think Mr. Casnocha misses the point. There is a simple ways of losing weight that is hard - cutting ones calories sufficiently. But this is hard. Exceedingly hard. So we look for ways that are more complicated - cutting out certain food groups say - but easier. Its not "overcomplicating" things, its looking for better than the obvious solution.
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Ensuring economic growth
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Fascinating in-depth article on the economic footprint of gambling on the EU and UK markets
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