Paved with good Intentions

Here's something I wrote years ago:

The original Blog Post I wrote
there is the saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”

there are different ways to look at the quote, wikipedia looks at some different ways. so if you read this, sorry if it’s on a totally different topic than you thought it would be. so, now for my attempt to define the problem and its solution.
 * what i like about the quote:  it points out a disconnect between intentions behind actions and their impact
 * what i don’t like about the quote:  first it could detail that point better.  but mostly my problem with it is that it hardly conveys what the actual problem is so it seems almost useless

problem:  good intentions/goals are not enough. they are necessary, but not sufficient

a solution must include that which is “sufficient”

it can be laid out with questions. how do you want things to be? how are things now? how to get from A to B? each of these three questions are necessary, and technically none of them is sufficient on their own. i’d think this would all be pretty basic, but each of these can be failed. and don’t forget that some things that we think are basic values might be able to be changed by reason and evidence! [in fact i might need to look into the whole word “values” because sometimes that word seems suspiciously unclear]
 * how we want things to be has to do with the intentions.  i’d say that this comes from our values.
 * how are things now?  we need information to answer this, sometimes research etc.
 * how to get from A to B?  this also requires knowledge, but reasoning too (both are needed for Problem Solving)
 * i have seen people be against my compassion values.  this can be confusing.  sometimes it turns out that the person seems to think they can determine what ought to be done while somehow not appealing to any set of values at all.  doing this makes a mess
 * knowledge and ignorance of course have huge impact.  also keep in mind there are knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns (which we might mistake for knowns!)
 * cognitive bias in our own brains can prevent proper reasoning.

thoughts? did i miss anything? is this actually important/(needed to be said) like i thought, or maybe not?

But that's still just part one
Even if you have a great plan and understanding of point A, point B, and how to get from one to another, that's still just an intention.

Results can often only be achieved if you also have:


 * resources
 * people willing to do the work