One of the main goals of卡利尔的角落是分享我在职业生涯中学到的一些有关policy entrepreneurship。Below is an FAQ on a thought experiment that I think is useful for policy entrepreneurs, and how the thought experiment is related to a concept I call “shared agency.”
问：您最喜欢的思想实验是什么？
想象一下您有一台魔术笔记本电脑。笔记本电脑的功能是，您编写的任何新闻稿都将实现。
您必须撰写一个标题（目标声明），几段以提供上下文以及1-2段描述谁同意做什么（在形式的组织中，A形式A采取行动B以实现目标C）。个人或组织可以是联邦机构，国会，公司，慈善家，投资者，研究型大学，非营利组织，熟练的志愿者等。但是，约束是，这些组织既愿意又愿意和能够采取行动。例如，营利性公司不会采取违反其股东利益的行动。
What press release would you write, and why? What makes this a compelling idea?
Q. What was the variant of this that you used to ask people when you worked in the White House for President Obama?
您在椭圆形办公室与总统举行了15分钟的会议，他问：
“如果您给我一个好主意，我会打电话给地球上的任何人。这可以是电话会议，因此线上可能有一个以上的人。您的想法是什么，为什么您对此感到兴奋？为了使您的想法发生，我需要打电话给谁，我需要要求他们做什么才能实现这一目标？”
问：您向人们提出这一思想实验的动力是什么？
我曾经处于角色，偶尔可以作为他人想法的“力量乘数”。拥有一个好主意的最好方法是接触到许多想法。
当我在白宫时，我会见很多人会告诉我，他们所做的工作非常重要，应受到政策制定者的更多关注。
但是，当我问他们希望政府考虑做什么时，他们并不总是有特定的回应。有时人们会有一个好主意的内核，但是我需要与他们一起播放“ 20个问题”才能完善它。这个思想实验有时会帮助我对基本问题（例如谁，什么，如何和原因）提出答案。
问：为什么这个思想实验与锤子问题有关？
Richard Hamming贝尔实验室的研究人员曾经问他的同事：“您所在的领域最重要的问题是什么？你在做什么？”这会惹恼他的一些同事，因为这迫使他们面对这样一个事实，即他们正在研究他们认为这很重要的事情。
If you really did have a magic laptop or a meeting with the President, you would presumably use it to help solve a problem that you thought was important!
问：这种思想实验如何突出联盟建设的重要性？
在很多种情况下,我们有一个目标requires building a coalition of individuals and organizations.
如果您无法识别（1）联盟的潜在成员，很难做到这一点；（2）您希望他们考虑采取的相互加强行动。
一旦有关于愿意和有能力联盟的成员的假设，您就可以开始询问和回答其他关键问题，例如：
- Why is it in the enlightened self-interest of the members of the coalition to participate?
- Who is the most credible messenger for your idea? Who could help convene the coalition?
- 您或其他人可以做的事情使他们更容易参与其中吗？例如，政策制定者用言语做事，就像牧师通过说“我现在宣布你的丈夫和妻子”来改变世界上的状况。总统签署执行命令，国会通过立法，资助机构发行RFP，监管机构发出公众评论规则草案，等等。您可以通过起草框架，做出和实施决定的文档来使决策者更容易考虑一个想法。
- If a member of the coalition is willing but not able, can someone else take some action that relaxes the constraint that is preventing them from participating?
- What evidence do you have that if individual or organization A took action B, that C is likely to occur?
- 采取您推荐的行动方案有哪些风险？如何进行管理或减轻它们？
问：这个思想实验仅与决策者有关？
Not at all. I think it is relevant for any goal that you are pursuing — especially ones that require concerted action by multiple individuals and organizations to accomplish.
问：这个思想实验与巴基·富勒（Bucky Fuller）的“修剪标签”的概念之间有什么关系？
富勒观察到一种称为A的微型设备trim tab旨在移动舵，进而可以移动一艘巨型船伊丽莎白女王。
因此，确定可以帮助解决重要问题的这些杠杆点非常有用。
例如，一些环境拥护者的重点是供应链of large multinationals. If these companies source products that are more sustainable (e.g. cooking oils that are produced without requiring deforestation) – that can have a big impact on the environment.
问：人们可以采取哪些步骤来为这个思想实验提供更好的答案？
有很多事情 - 例如对特定问题有深入的了解，在许多不同领域中解决重要的问题，或者了解您试图影响您的特定组织如何做出决策的成功和不成功的努力。
我一直感兴趣的是创建用于解决问题的“工具包”。如果与戴锤子并寻找钉子的钉子相反，您还拥有锯，螺丝刀和胶带尺寸，您更有可能拥有正确的工具或工具组合合适的工作。
例如，在我在奥巴马政府任职期间，我的团队和白宫的其他人鼓励人们认识和采用数十种解决问题的方法，例如：
- Sponsoring奖励奖品，这允许机构不必选择最有可能成功的团队或方法设定目标；
- 制作open dataavailable in machine-readable formats, and encouraging teams to develop new applications that use the data to solve a real-world problem;
- 改变联邦招聘做法和招聘顶级technical talent;
- 拥抱现代软件方法，例如面向公民的敏捷和以人为本的设计数字服务;
- Identifying and pursuing21st世纪月亮;
- Using行为科学的见解改善政策和计划；
- 使用和建造evidenceto increase the share of federal resources going to more effective interventions;
- 更改采购政策so that the government can purchase products and services from startups and commercial firms, not just traditional contractors.
当然，理想情况下，人们会熟悉不同类型的参与者（公司，研究所，基金会，投资者，民间社会组织）和具有不同功能或纪律专业知识的个人的解决问题的策略。没有人会掌握所有这些工具，但是您可能渴望（1）知道它们存在；（2）有一些有关您可能使用的情况和在什么情况下使用它们的启发式方法；（3）知道如何了解有关解决可能相关问题的特定方法的更多信息。例如，我已经确定了许多策略我已经看到了基础和非营利组织的使用。
问：这个思想实验与心理学家称为“代理”的概念有何关系？
代理是定义by psychologists like Albert Bandura as “the human capability to influence …the course of events by one’s actions.”
The particular dimension of agency that I have experienced is a sense that there are more aspects of the status quo that are potentially changeable as opposed to being fixed. These are the elements of the status quo that are attributable to human action or inaction, as opposed to the laws of physics.
显然，这种代理感并没有扩展到阳光下的每个问题。它仅限于那些可以通过获得可识别的个人和组织采取一些行动来取得进展的领域 - 例如总统签署行政命令或提议新的预算计划，G20同意增加对全球公共商品的投资，国会通过法律或组织，例如公司，基金会，非营利组织和大学等组织联盟，共同实现共同的目标。
问：您如何在职业生涯中发展出强烈的代理意识?
我有幸在白宫为克林顿和奥巴马总统工作。
As a White House staffer, I had the ability to send the President a decision memo. If he checked the box that said “yes” – and the idea actually happened and was well-implemented, this reinforced my sense of agency.
但这不仅仅是成功的经历。这也是一个知识，即人们反复试图从一个想法转变为世界上发生的事情，例如：
- Working with the Congress to pass legislation that gave every agency the authority to sponsor奖励奖品最高可达5000万美元；
- 包括在总统预算中为数十个国家科学技术计划提供资金，例如国家纳米技术计划or the大脑倡议;
- 招募人们前往白宫，以帮助解决严重而重要的问题，例如减少等待名单organ transplant，允许更多foreign entrepreneurs来到美国或发起行为科学单元在联邦政府内；和，
- Using the President’s “bully pulpit” to build coalitions of companies, non-profits, philanthropists, universities, etc. to achieve a particular goal, like expanding opportunities for more students to excel in干。
Q. What does it mean for you to have a shared sense of agency with another individual, a team, or a community?
Obviously, most people have not had 16 years of their professional life in which they could send a decision memo to the President, get a line in the President’s State of the Union address, work with Congress to pass legislation, create a new institution, shape the federal budget, and build large coalitions with hundreds of organizations that are taking mutually reinforcing actions in the pursuit of a shared goal.
So sometimes when I am talking to an individual, a team or a community, it will become clear to me that there is some aspect of the status quo that they view as fixed, and I view as potentially changeable. It might make sense for me to explain why I believe the status quo is changeable, and what are the steps we could take together in the service of achieving a shared goal.
问：为什么共享代理很重要？
更改the status quo is hard. If I don’t know how to do it, or believe that I would be tilting at windmills – it’s unlikely that I would devote a lot of time and energy to trying to do so.
It may be the case that pushing for change will require a fair amount of work, such as:
- 清楚地表达我的想法，并有效地将其传达给多个受众；
- 提出支持证据的证据；
- Determining who the relevant “deciders” are for a given idea;
- 解决异议或误解，或回应合法的批评；和
- 建立支持这一想法的人和机构的联盟，并可以准备采取一些行动来推进这一想法。
因此，如果我希望人们投入时间和精力来实现一个想法或做一些事情来实现这一想法，我需要说服他们，可以合理地发生建设性的事情。一种方法是描述成功的外观，并讨论我们为实现共同目标而采取的行动。正如经济学家所说的那样，我试图通过增加我的合作者对我们的成功的可能性来增加他们追求共同目标的“预期回报”。
Q. Are there risks associated with having this strong sense of agency, and how might one mitigate against those risks?
Yes, absolutely. One is a lack of appropriate epistemic humility, by pushing a proposed solution in the absence of reasonable evidence that it will work, or failing to identify unintended consequences. It’s useful to read books like James Scott’s像一个状态一样。
我也喜欢循证政策的想法。例如，政府应为新想法，中型赠款提供适度的资金，以评估有前途的方法以及对经过严格评估并具有很高的成本比率的大量干预措施的大量赠款。
本博客中表达的观点和观点是作者自己的观点，不一定反映了施密特期货的观点。
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