Transcript
Do not fall for Good Hearts Law. Doing so has destroyed lives, ruined careers, and cost people billions of dollars. I'll give you three famous examples of it to see if you can pick up on exactly what it is. Don't cheat. If you know already, just comment one of these. Here it goes. There's a Black Mirror episode where people can rate all of their human interactions. It's designed to increase social trust and incentivize good behavior. This leads to a dystopia of fake niceness. 2. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 mandated standards-based education reform, where federal funding and penalties were tied directly to adequate yearly progress on standardized tests. So, schools started encouraging teachers to teach to the tests. Newer studies show that the cost of education often went up by over $1,200 per student because of this. And schools spent less time teaching non-tested subjects like art and science? For shame. Three. The internet right now. When platforms reward creators for clicks, comments, and watch time, the best strategy can often become rage bait, exaggerated claims, and often flat-out lies. Content engineered to make you furious enough to comment, or smug enough to share without verifying. The creator profits, and the platforms become wretched hives of scum and villainy, and echo chambers. We must be cautious. And that was before AI. So these are all examples of Goodheart's law, but your team. challenge is to generalize it in as succinct and clear a way as possible. I'll make a video responding to the best answer. No cheating!
Additional notes
Don't cheat and ruin it for everyone else! Come up with your comment before reading anyone else's. Bonus points (to possibly be included in a vid): come up with another good example of the Law in action! #TikTokLearningCampaign #edutok #science #economics #learnontiktok
References
- Black Mirror social-rating example mentioned in transcript; direct source link not listed in workbook.
- No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and standardized-test incentive effects discussed in transcript; study titles, DOI/PMID numbers, and source links not listed in workbook.
- Newer education-cost studies mentioned in transcript; study titles, DOI/PMID numbers, and source links not listed in workbook.
- Goodheart's Law / Goodhart's Law concept discussed in transcript; source link not listed in workbook.