Apollo Syndrome: Coined in 1981 by Dr. Meredith Belbin “where teams of highly capable individuals can, collectively, perform badly.” Related to poor results of so-called Dream Teams and groups of experts. More here: https://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/tt/t-articl/apollo.htm
Rehbinder effect: Physical curiosity where metals and ceramics are easier to cut when a surfactant film is applied to the surface. Fun video demonstrating the effect when hammering a nail into a coffee cup with and without water: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcn0xzDr9D0
Parkinson’s law: The duration of public administration, bureaucracy and officialdom expands to fill its allotted time span, regardless of the amount of work to be done. Similar effects with deadlines; a 24-hour deadline and a 7-day deadline for the same task will yield essentially the same quality of work. More at Wikipedia.
Sisyphus: I’m just scratching the surface of this myth. A crafty fellow that tricks the gods out of death twice is condemned to an eternity of rolling a boulder to the top of a hill only for it to slip back down again. On first glance, it points to futility and our tendency is find it in our own lives. Yet, “One must imagine Sisyphus happy,” posits Albert Camus?!? Essays abound. Here is a recent one. https://hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/sisyphus-unbothered More to ponder.
Jevons paradox: New tech cuts resources needed to make a thing, reducing total consumption. But improvements drop costs, raising demand, and cause total consumption to go up. Our tendency is to expect efficiency gains to lower resource consumption, not the opposite. More here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
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