A quick post on a probably-real inadequate equilibrium mostly inspired by trying to think through what happened to Chance the Rapper.

Potentially ironic artifact if it accrues karma.

1. The sculptor's garden

A sculptor worked in solitude for years, carving strange figures in his remote garden. Most of his statues failed: some cracked in winter, others looked wrong against the landscape. But occasionally, very rarely, one seemed to work.

The first visitors stumbled upon the garden by accident. They found themselves stopped by his angels—figures that somehow held both sorrow and joy, wings that seemed about to flitter.

Word traveled slowly. More visitors came, drawn by something they couldn't quite name.

The sculptor felt recognized for the first time. Not famous—but understood. His private work had somehow become communicable. He carved more angels, trying to understand what made these particular statues resonate.

As crowds grew, their attention shifted. They began photographing the angels from certain angles, comparing new works to old, developing favorites. They applauded. The sculptor, still believing he followed the same thread, unconsciously noted which details drew the longest contemplation, which angles prompted gasps.

Years passed. The garden became famous. Tour buses arrived with guides explaining the "important" pieces. The sculptor produced angels of increasing technical perfection, each guaranteed to produce the proper response at the proper moment. The crowds applauded more reliably. The sculptor carved more reliably. Each reinforced the other.

One morning, walking his garden alone before dawn, he saw his statues without the crowds. Without their reactions to guide him, he saw what he'd actually been making: the same angel, refined and repeated, each iteration more precisely calibrated to trigger the expected response.

He wasn't carving anymore. He was manufacturing applause in the shape of angels.

And the crowds—they weren't looking at angels anymore. They were seeing what they expected to see, applauding their own ability to recognize what they'd been trained to admire.

The garden had become a perfect mirror. Both he and his audience got trapped looking at their own reflections and calling it art.

2. The mirror trap

The Mirror Trap is a failure mode where creators and audiences fall into mutual Goodharting—each optimizing for a proxy of wha...

Incentives