Observed arrival · 2026-11-10
Ian’s Law of Effort Displacement
A proposed framework for testing whether a reduction in visible work has eliminated effort or moved it elsewhere.
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✦Pretty
●Pro
◎Niche
◉Human
⚑Risk
ƒJS
- For
- People assessing efficiency in organizations
- Worth noticing
- It requires three conditions to rebut the presumption: no relocated work, no offsetting cost, and no degraded outcome.
Field notes
The page divides displacement into horizontal movement between people or organizations, temporal movement into preparation or later rework, and transformation between labor, capital, energy, computation, or infrastructure. Its examples include a developer handing work to support or a customer, faster typing shifting effort into review, and headcount giving way to licences or a power bill. The author explicitly describes conservation as a practical presumption, not a physical certainty.
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Editorial observations of this landing page, not a rating.
○OpenPublic substance visible
✦PrettyNotable craft visible
●ProPolished or operationally mature
◎NicheUnusually specific use
◉HumanPersonal, local, civic, or handmade
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