[everforward]

I think it’s a tendency to analyze everything as a system. Incentives are basically a pros and cons list but over an aggregate of people.

I don’t find it reductionist. Incentives don’t have to be monetary. Power, status, family, morality, societal pressures, personal satisfaction, fear, all can be incentives.

Incentives are a question of what shared experience is a driving factor for a group of people.

That doesn’t remove the nuance from individuals. Just because group X lacks incentive to do Y doesn’t mean that nobody in X does Y. It’s just less useful to speak about individuals. No one cares about why my uncle Rick did whatever, but they might care why 10% of the country is doing it.