Book Review: Inadequate Equilibria

The influential review of Eliezer Yudkowsky's book, framed brilliantly as 'theodicy': if the Invisible Hand is good, why is the world full of uncorrected evil - $20 bills left on the floor of Grand Central? Lays out the efficient-markets argument that everything should be optimal, then Yudkowsky's three mechanisms of 'inadequate equilibria' (fixers who can't capture the gains; the lemons/credibility problem that buries expert signals; bad Nash equilibria like Facebook, Uber, and the signaling 'Tower'). The second half pushes back hard on Yudkowsky's attack on the Outside View / 'modest epistemology,' defending modesty's foot-not-shooting value with eight worked examples (the above-average driver, the Three Christs of Ypsilanti, the time-share).

Quality 85 · Excellent. An outstanding, lucid review that made 'inadequate equilibria' and the Inside/Outside-View debate core vocabulary, and unusually rich in original pushback (the modesty defense is a real intellectual contribution, not just summary). Held below the top because the core concepts are Yudkowsky's and standard economics. Excellent, upper end.

Claude’s paradigm shift 58 · Moderate. The mechanisms (coordination failure, the lemons problem, Nash equilibria) are Yudkowsky's and textbook econ; the post's novelty is the vivid 'theodicy' framing plus Scott's original defense of the Outside View. Moderate, edging notable.

Real-world impact 3 · Moderate. Made 'inadequate equilibria' and the inside/outside-view debate core vocabulary in rationalist/EA epistemics, with the modesty pushback a real contribution. Substantial conceptual uptake, but elite/intellectual reach with no material or population-level change — modest RWI.