Is there a name for this concept, similar to the Peter principle

[md2000]

@CookingWithGas

Pareto actually said that 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the people. It has since been appropriated to apply to everything else you can think of.

Yes, now it’s the one-Percent.

@Thudlow_Boink

But, note that, just because we’ve solved hard problems doesn’t necessarily mean we can solve seemingly easier ones. See: Appeal To The Moon.

They’re only seemingly easier ones.

A good example - what sort of traffic problems kill the most people? Everyone says, “drunk drivers”, which is probably true. How often are faulty brakes a problem, particularly in cars (not trucks)? How often does low tread cause a fatal accident? Yet every time you sell a car, you must have these details checked and if necessary, corrected. And then, after a few thousand miles, the problem may be present again, although the vast majority of car owners fix these problems when they occur anyway. I’m just waiting for legislators to make mandatory brake and tire inspection an annual thing. Why?

Similarly, we hand out speeding tickets although doing 80 on an expressway that is signed 70, or missing the hidden sign 20mph drop in road speed on a rural road with nobody else around - seems to be more about money than safety.

Yet, more strict enforcement of drunk driver laws would go much farther toward mitigating the death toll. Drowsy drivers? There’s a problem that’s a bit more difficult, but probably more cost-effective than brake checks. We do brake checks only because the state itself does not have to pay for that. You do.

[SamuelA]

@Thudlow_Boink

But, note that, just because we’ve solved hard problems doesn’t necessarily mean we can solve seemingly easier ones. See: Appeal To The Moon.

Also the other flaw about the Moon landings is that:

a. The technology used did not scale. Many of the components (everything from the rocket engines to the computers) were so incredibly expensive to never see any kind of commercial use.

b. It was only successfully done 6 times and 1 out of the 7 missions came extremely close to killing the entire crew.

c. It was so incredibly expensive per landing that Congress almost canceled some of the later landings but held off because the equipment was already paid for.

d. Nobody made any money from it. Old rocks from a nearby planetoid are only value to a field of science that doesn’t have any commercially useful output. Yes, some of the technology developed was later adapted for civilian use, but it would have been more cost effective to spend the moonshot money directly on paying for R&D for useful products.

[CookingWithGas]

@md2000

I’m just waiting for legislators to make mandatory brake and tire inspection an annual thing.

It’s mandatory in Virginia.