I am not going to lie, as I read the article, I already knew I would be confused during the game. The article stated, “The fate of the environmental conscious town demonstrates how human planning and decision-making process can go awry if we do not pay attention to possible side effects and long term repercussions, if we apply corrective measures too aggressively or too timidly, or if we ignore premises we should have considered.” The fact lies that we are not able to just make a decision in the moment without thinking about the effects and difficulties that could come into play and hurt in the long run. It was also said that human beings tend to deal with situations and problems as they happen in the present moment also referred to as “ad hoc basis.” There is always a chance to choose an action that will result in causing negative impacts to the world since small mistakes can occur but if enough continue to be made, they will make an impact by adding up and can equal the same as one big mistake.
It is important to note that even well thought out good intentions are able to result with negative impacts that can harm us in the long run if we miss some visible or invisible holes in the action being pursued. I am excited to use the simulator and see not only what actions I will take but also how many blind spots or holes in my choice can exist and impact the simulation in a positive or negative manner. I have a feeling that after reading the article, I will be overthinking any action I take during the simulation as I will attempt to figure out what will come out of the decision especially how the negative affects will be hurtful in the long run of the simulator.
I completely relate with the point you made about overthinking- I definitely felt as though I had something to do with how poorly the village was doing, but couldn’t seem to figure out how to get the ratios right in order to get the village and the villagers healthy. I think I was also just not really willing to commit to the decisions I was making, and had a hard time finding the difference between the positive patterns versus the negative.
Taking the long run into account during the game was definitely important. I thought it was great to have so much wood and fish in the beginning, but then all the resources got depleted and I was left with none. I think it can be easy to overlook long run things when present decisions seem much more relevant.
The “ad hoc basis” you talk about here from the article is also something that Dr. Bezio described in her podcast with the human tendency to react instead of be proactive and take preventative strategies. We put off making decisions until it is completely necessary because often we don’t know what the right decision is, and I am so guilty of this it’s ridiculous. It was also interesting what the podcast said about covid and how New Zealand is open now because the country took preventative strategies before it got bad instead of waiting for the worst to hit like the US did. I think it’s important to have this preventative mindset in order to make better, more well thought out decisions.