There are a few things that are assumed to be true when talking about the Pareto frontier here, but aren’t always true.
One, that more of something is always better, e.g. it is always better to have more speed.
Maybe, but what if having too much speed causes you to run off the track and perform worse? It could be that there is actually a peak in the utility of speed that declines as it increases.
There could also be important relations between attributes that make determining a Pareto frontier impossible or at least more difficult. For example, some pairs of attributes work best when they are a specific ratio, and increasing one or the other will actually decrease utility unless the other is increased at the same time.
> [is it really] always better to have more speed[?]
I'm reminded of two things that in a way support your premise with the second example being more relevant. Both are outside what’s being discussed exactly, more about knock-on effects maybe, anyway:
The first is that Angry Birds found the speed of launching birds into structures was important for engagement: it cannot be too fast.
The second is from a commenter somewhere who said they had or worked on software that took ten minutes to boot in the morning, which is when employees made coffee and talked and brainstormed. Everyone was disappointed when after refactoring, the software booted immediately.
Wouldn't that just change the shape of the pareto frontier? It stops at some point (when marginal utility becomes negative) - but this is not special, they typically stop at 0 as well.
cortesoft · · focus · HN ↗
One, that more of something is always better, e.g. it is always better to have more speed.
Maybe, but what if having too much speed causes you to run off the track and perform worse? It could be that there is actually a peak in the utility of speed that declines as it increases.
There could also be important relations between attributes that make determining a Pareto frontier impossible or at least more difficult. For example, some pairs of attributes work best when they are a specific ratio, and increasing one or the other will actually decrease utility unless the other is increased at the same time.
Barbing · · focus · HN ↗
I'm reminded of two things that in a way support your premise with the second example being more relevant. Both are outside what’s being discussed exactly, more about knock-on effects maybe, anyway:
The first is that Angry Birds found the speed of launching birds into structures was important for engagement: it cannot be too fast.
The second is from a commenter somewhere who said they had or worked on software that took ten minutes to boot in the morning, which is when employees made coffee and talked and brainstormed. Everyone was disappointed when after refactoring, the software booted immediately.
latexr · · focus · HN ↗
<a href="https://xkcd.com/1172/" rel="nofollow">https://xkcd.com/1172/
Barbing · · focus · HN ↗
dfdydx · · focus · HN ↗