Braess’s Paradox, a result from network theory that shows how adding capacity to a system can actually reduce its overall performance. Here’s the intuition: each driver chooses the route that’s fastest for them. When a new “shortcut” appears, it changes everyone’s incentives. Too many people pile onto the same path, new bottlenecks form, and the entire network slows down—even though nothing was removed. The key idea is that individual optimization doesn’t always lead to collective optimization. The traffic pattern settles into what’s called a user equilibrium: no single driver can improve their travel time by switching routes, but everyone would be better off if traffic were coordinated differently. What makes this powerful is that it’s not just about roads: 🚗 traffic networks 🌐 internet data routing ⚡ power grids 📦 supply chains 🏙️ urban planning In some real cities, removing roads or restricting turns has actually improved travel times. Less freedom, paradoxically, can mean m...