Why Fixes Often Backfire
Correction Concepts

Why Fixes Often Backfire

Corrected by Emir Baycan · on When Notes Fly · 28 July 2026 · View published page ↗

Fixes backfire when they address symptoms instead of root causes, create new problems through unintended consequences, or shift problems elsewhere.

Missing context

What was corrected

What the page claimed

The article said focused deterrence is universally more effective, that HITECH/EHRs caused the overall rise in physician burnout, that Goodhart's Law holds across nearly every accountability domain, and that Planner aid programs systematically underperform Searcher programs; it also mentioned the cobra bounty story.

What was corrected

Qualified the focused-deterrence, burnout, Goodhart, and Planner/Searcher claims to what the sources support, and confirmed the cobra story was already flagged as apocryphal.

Why this is better

The flagged claims were more universal or causal than the evidence supports; the cobra story was already handled. Corrections scope the claims rather than adding new sources.

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