The theory that efficiency operates within paradigms—frameworks that determine what counts as efficient, what methods are used to measure it, what values it serves. Efficiency Paradigms argues that different paradigms produce different efficiencies: what's efficient in a capitalist paradigm (profit maximization) may be inefficient in an ecological paradigm (sustainability); what's efficient in a bureaucratic paradigm (rule-following) may be inefficient in a creative paradigm (innovation). These paradigms are incommensurable—they can't be directly compared because they define efficiency differently. The theory calls for recognizing which paradigm you're in, and understanding that other paradigms have their own, different efficiencies.
Example: "He couldn't understand why environmentalists called the coal plant 'inefficient' when it produced so much power. The Theory of Efficiency Paradigms explained: they were in different paradigms. His paradigm measured efficiency by output; theirs measured by sustainability. Neither was wrong; they were just measuring different things. He started asking what paradigm he was in, and whether it was the right one."
by Abzugal February 21, 2026
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