objects/efficiency-is-not-the-goal.html

Efficiency and optimizations are ways to solve problems

not the goal of society

you often hear - "if all other factors are the same" we should do things efficiently

need to study those other factors using multiple perspectives

 

Example of waste - it's not all the same

waste in the production and use of lumber

• trees that fall to the forest floor
• sawdust on the mill floor
• defective wood product that has already shipped to the consumer

Streamlined and highly efficient process

maybe overly sensitive to variability

may not be resilient to shocks - good or bad

As with other environmental problems

knowledge, control, values