Is there a word for this? The means become the end...

[Algr]

Is there a word for when when the purpose of some activity is forgotten, and the activity is confused as an end in itself. The means becomes the end?

Examples:

You need a ladder, so you cut down a tree to make one. Then remember that the reason you wanted the ladder was to climb the tree.

Or you get a job, but working there requires that you live in an overpriced neighborhood, drive constantly and buy suits and insurance such that the cost of working the job consumes more than you actually get paid.

High definition video today is transmitted at 29.97 interlaced frames per second due to some issue with vacuum tubes in the 1950s.

A document's name and file type are lumped together in the same text field. Sometimes the file types are hidden, leading to such exploits as image.jpg.exe.

 

[anuttarasammyak]

I found means-end reversal in
https://publicautonomy.org/2015/02/26/the-means-end-reversal-dynamic-syriza-for-example/ .

 

[jack action]

Not a single word, but there is the expression Rob Peter to pay Paul:

(idiomatic) To use resources that legitimately belong to or are needed by one party in order to satisfy a legitimate need of another party, especially within the same organization or group; to solve a problem in a way that makes another problem worse, producing no net gain.

 

[DaveC426913]

The cure is worse than the disease.

aegrescit medendo (literally “it worsens with healing”) attributed to Virgil in book XII of the Aeneid.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the_cure_is_worse_than_the_disease

 

[Algr]

Rob Peter to pay Paul:

The cure is worse than the disease.

Those aren't really the same thing. The idea is that the original goal has been forgotten, but the means set up to achieve the goal remain, and are doing maladaptive things.

means-end reversal

That is closer. Interesting article.

This is a phenomenon often found in laws and bureaucracy. Another example I recall was a company that limited all employees to 100 e-mails in storage, and made them clear out their mail before sending out new messages.

This rule was made in the 1970s, and resulted in every employee spending hours per week pruning their mail on company time. Everyone hated the rule, but the bureaucracy couldn't get out of the mindset that they were saving money on storage, no matter how people tried to explain it to them. By the time someone pointed out that eliminating the rule would cost the whole company about $200 for a hard drive, they had wasted millions of man-hours trying to save storage that had been valuable in the 1970s, but not in the 2000s.

 

[DaveC426913]

Those aren't really the same thing.

I know. We're all just spitballin' here.

 

[DaveC426913]

I've always felt the best example of this is the Five Monkeys Experiment.

https://intersol.ca/news/organizational-culture-and-the-5-monkeys-experiment/

5 monkeys were placed in a cage as part of an experiment. In the middle of the cage was a ladder with bananas on the top rung. Every time a monkey tried to climb the ladder, the experimenter sprayed all of the monkeys with icy water. Eventually, each time a monkey started to climb the ladder, the other ones pulled him off and beat him up so they could avoid the icy spray. Soon, no monkey dared go up the ladder.

The experimenter then substituted one of the monkeys in the cage with a new monkey. The first thing the new monkey did was try to climb the ladder to reach the bananas. After several beatings, the new monkey learned the social norm. He never knew “why” the other monkeys wouldn’t let him go for the bananas because he had never been sprayed with ice water, but he quickly learned that this behaviour would not be tolerated by the other monkeys.

One by one, each of the monkeys in the cage was substituted for a new monkey until none of the original group remained. Every time a new monkey went up the ladder, the rest of the group pulled him off, even those who had never been sprayed with the icy water.

By the end of the experiment, the 5 monkeys in the cage had learned to follow the rule (don’t go for the bananas), without any of them knowing the reason why (we’ll all get sprayed by icy water). If we could have asked the monkeys for their rationale behind not letting their cage mates climb the ladder, their answer would probably be: “I don’t know, that’s just how its always been done.”

 

[anuttarasammyak]

We may count destructive measurement in QM as an example of the idea.

 

[Hornbein]

Futility, tradition.

 

[jack action]

• Pointless oblivion
• Fruitless reflex
• Uselessly unaware
• Unprofitably clueless

 

[TeethWhitener]

Possibly related:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart's_law

 

[Hornbein]

Is there a word for when when the purpose of some activity is forgotten, and the activity is confused as an end in itself. The means becomes the end?

Examples:

You need a ladder, so you cut down a tree to make one. Then remember that the reason you wanted the ladder was to climb the tree.

Stupidity, lack of forethought

Or you get a job, but working there requires that you live in an overpriced neighborhood, drive constantly and buy suits and insurance such that the cost of working the job consumes more than you actually get paid.

Livin' in the USA

High definition video today is transmitted at 29.97 interlaced frames per second due to some issue with vacuum tubes in the 1950s.

Tradition

During the black-and-white era, TVs did run at a true 30 FPS. But in order to add color into the mix, frame rate had to be dropped by .03 FPS to make room for the color information in the 60Hz signal.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/standup-maths-explains-video-framerates/

A document's name and file type are lumped together in the same text field. Sometimes the file types are hidden, leading to such exploits as image.jpg.exe.

SNAFU

 

[Bystander]

Stupidity,

 

[hmmm27]

Ironically, the question remains unanswered.

 

[Hornbein]

Ironically, the question remains unanswered.

AFAIK there is no such word. I rather like operationem oblitus or medium fit finis.

 

[hmmm27]

AFAIK there is no such word. I rather like operationem oblitus or medium fit finis.

So, I'm trying to web-translate "to step on one's own penis" into Latin, and the result reverse-checked into "take one step at a time"

 

[Tom.G]

So, I'm trying to web-translate "to step on one's own penis" into Latin, and the result reverse-checked into "take one step at a time"

If you leave out the word "one's", you get "ad gradus in sua penis", which translates back to English as "to step in their penis."
I'm expect that would be at least as painful.

Me thinks the Translate A.I. isn't terribly I.

On the other hand, Google translates both "on" and "in" to Latin "in".

 

[Ibix]

On the other hand, Google translates both "on" and "in" to Latin "in".

From the very little Latin I remember, it's correct on that. I think the on/in distinction is made by the case ending of either what's on the thing or the thing that's on it, so it's possible that's gone wrong somewhere anyway.

 

[anuttarasammyak]

You need a ladder, so you cut down a tree to make one. Then remember that the reason you wanted the ladder was to climb the tree.

The GIft of the Magi by O. Henry

 

[hmmm27]

From the very little Latin I remember, it's correct on that. I think the on/in distinction is made by the case ending of either what's on the thing or the thing that's on it, so it's possible that's gone wrong somewhere anyway.

"super", though that's more "above" than "on". Ah, here we go, courtesy of UK National Archives :

in	+ accusative	into, onto
in	+ ablative	in, on
super	+ accusative	over
super	+ ablative	upon

 

[Algr]

Stupidity, lack of forethought

Livin' in the USA

Tradition

SNAFU

Too vague. I was describing a more specific issue. I was talking about when people forget what the original point of a rule or activity was, and become devoted to the rule/activity at the expense of the outcome that anyone actually wanted. Sometimes they will remember the outcome but can't process that X does not lead to Y in that case.

The GIft of the Magi by O. Henry

That matches my story, but wasn't really an example as I intended because both characters were acting rationally.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/standup-maths-explains-video-framerates/

I have a fairly extensive comment on that video. The drop to 29.97 made perfect sense at the time, and the host's claim of Not The Smart Choice was strangely rude and unjustified. It's not about making room, but about synchronizing the croma and sound signals so that they did not interfere with each other.

Ironically, the question remains unanswered.

IMHO, the best answer so far was "means-end reversal" by anuttarasammyak above. Ego-lock also plays a part in these stories, when the person who made the rule refuses to acknowledge the unintended consequences. More often than not however, you get high management uttering a passing thought, and middle management treating it like unquestionable gospel. Then the people who actually do the work are ignored when they point out the inevitable consequences, and can must wait for weeks for high management to wander in again and make the same observation.