The spreadsheet is a tool, but it is also a worldview -- reality by the numbers

The spreadsheet is a tool, but it is also a worldview – reality by the numbers… Because spreadsheets can do so many important things, those who use them tend to lose sight of the crucial fact that the imaginary businesses that they can create on their computers are just that – imaginary. You can’t really duplicate a business inside a computer, just aspects of a business. And since numbers are the strength of spreadsheets, the aspects that get emphasised are the one easily embodied in numbers. Intangible factors aren’t so easily quantified.

Behavioural principles

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

Short, plain-English explanations of the principles behind this post, with links to related books and examples in the archive.

Goodhart's law

This principle helps explain why people behave differently from what pure logic would predict.

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Expectation effect

Expectations change how the same experience feels.

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Affect heuristic

We lean on how something feels when making a fast judgment.

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The spreadsheet is a tool, but it is also a worldview -- reality by the numbers

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

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