Re:Show HN: An app that takes your money if you don't reach ...
by costco on Friday April 19, 2024 @03:00PM
(#40090743)
People are less motivated by these sorts of systems if they know the money will go to charity because giving to charity feels good. See https://blog.beeminder.com/anticharity
Re:Show HN: An app that takes your money if you don't reach ...
by kugurerdem on Friday April 19, 2024 @03:38PM
(#40091131)
I think you are right. In this case, knowing that money will go to a neutral actor instead of a charity might be a better solution. Interesting.
Good essay by the way.
Re:Show HN: An app that takes your money if you don't reach ...
by llmblockchain on Friday April 19, 2024 @04:22PM
(#40091529)
What if the money went to a charity or organization you disagreed with, ex: neo-nazis, etc?
Re:Show HN: An app that takes your money if you don't reach ...
by Zambyte on Friday April 19, 2024 @06:23PM
(#40092579)
... then the system behind this will be organizing funding for neo-nazis.
Re:Show HN: An app that takes your money if you don't reach ...
by kugurerdem on Saturday April 20, 2024 @08:20AM
(#40096816)
That's one of the problems with the concept of "anticharity" conveyed in the essay that costco shared.
Using positive/negative punishment (a thing being taken from you or a bad thing happening to you) can cause more harm than good especially if the harm caused exceeds the benefits obtained from achieving the goal.
Also curious about whether there is any form of verification of whether someone accomplished their goal. If not, this could result in bad actors trying to exploit the system by always checking their goals as completed. One potential way of getting rid of exploiters would be to remove the positive reward factor of the game, for example, the money lost by the participants could be sent into verified charity funds instead of being shared among the people who joined the pot.
I also have some doubts about the efficiency of mixing external motivations (in this case losing money or increasing a bit) with internal motivations (the goal itself). But this is another topic for discussion.
Anyway, this is a very interesting idea nonetheless. Good job! :)