[leggomylibro]

I have an idea, just no concrete ways to act on it. I think that we need to make a system of incentives where the values which we care about are the ones being optimized for.

So, right now we use abstract metrics like GDP or stock indices as a metric for 'success'. So countries optimize for GDP and companies optimize for making money and delivering monetary value to their shareholders.

Maybe we could collectively view those dollar figures as value-neutral and use metrics like international education scores, life expectancy, access to quality nutrition and medical care, incarceration/recidivism rates, etc. to indicate 'success'.

But again, no concrete ways to act on that. What, should we start telling people that money is useless and doesn't matter? I don't think they'll believe us while so many don't have access to apirational opportunities, or even basic necessities. But don't we have the means to provide those things?

[SapphireSun]

Just FYI, you're describing socialism and there is a large body of theory that you can read about that discusses these ideas. It even takes into account the mistakes of the mid-20th century.

Here's a really nice introduction.

https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/pamphlets/capitalism-soc...

[guscost]

There's risk that any of those metrics could be compromised by Goodhart's law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."

Obvious counterpoint: Money is also a metric susceptible to Goodhart's law. Is it better or worse if the metric is useless except as a target?

[WorldMaker]

Another counterpart is that not everything can be made a metric no matter how hard you try. The advertising world has duped us into believing that we can make metrics out of exceedingly subjective things like "satisfaction" and "happiness", but just because you ask a dozen people to pick a random number between 0 and 5 on any subject you think you can come up with doesn't mean that a 3.76 average means anything at all in the real world.