According to a post on LessWrong, you probably won't one-shot a perfect system—and that's okay. The writer, PossiblyElaine, traces five stages of learning how systems actually change: you notice problems, realize no alternative is perfect or stable, recognize that transitions always cost someone power, discover your elaborate plans will get punched in the face by reality, and finally dedicate yourself to a cause rather than a specific outcome. The central insight: gradient descent in real life means incremental fixes often land you in local optima, not global ones. A small act of kindness might just suppress pain signals instead of fixing the root dysfunction. But the lesson isn't cynicism—it's that trying anyway, knowing you'll fall short, is where real progress lives.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton