The Fitness Landscape of Incentive Mechanisms

Incentives are memetic - social - technical constructs. They exist in a fitness landscape and can evolve.

What makes some incentives more adaptable or legible than others? 

1. Clarity and Legibility 

   1. Clarity of outcomes: Incentives with clear, measurable results. 

   2. Familiarity: build on games that participants are already familiar with 

   3. Ease of understanding

   4. Ease of implementation 

2. Alignment with core human motivations: status, security, autonomy 

3. Scalability

4. Robustness 

5. Ability to overcome existing incentive deadlocks

   1. Conflicting interests: the fundamental goals are at odds with each other 

   2. Status quo bias: psychological factors, even if 

   3. Collective action problems: no individual incentives to change 

   4. Lack of communication or trust