The idea that it's good or clever to use rough proxies for things is one of the worse ideas to spread kind of virally through various intellectual communities in recent years. I feel like it may have spread via Less Wrong or some similar place but I'm not sure and it doesn't really matter.
Proxies for things are something you use when you can't get at the underlying reality directly. All proxies hide something and all proxies confound by mixing inputs in often non-linear and unknown ways.
In the human realm the use of proxies is a source of unfairness and injustice, so it's particularly important to avoid them there whenever it's possible.
Not using proxies means dealing more directly with reality. "Reason from first principles, not by analogy."
The idea that it's good or clever to use rough proxies for things is one of the worse ideas to spread kind of virally through various intellectual communities in recent years. I feel like it may have spread via Less Wrong or some similar place but I'm not sure and it doesn't really matter.
Proxies for things are something you use when you can't get at the underlying reality directly. All proxies hide something and all proxies confound by mixing inputs in often non-linear and unknown ways.
In the human realm the use of proxies is a source of unfairness and injustice, so it's particularly important to avoid them there whenever it's possible.
Not using proxies means dealing more directly with reality. "Reason from first principles, not by analogy."