Sound incentives require losing points when progress is undone

Evidence

Therefore the points assigned to taking an action must reflect how much better the resulting state of affairs is—and what’s more, as Lieder notes, “the points have to be assigned in such a way that when you undo something, you lose as many points as you earned when you did it.” — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 765

Categorization

• XREF: Extends the conservative-field / potential-energy insight into the gamification domain. — connects to: Rewarded actions get stamped in and repeated while punished ones fade — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 538
• SEED: Angle on why reward systems that fail to subtract progress (fitness apps, credit scores) produce perverse gaming behavior.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 765

Broader Connections

• Rewarded actions get stamped in and repeated while punished ones fade #corroborates (0.75) — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 538