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Math is important. It tells us the shape of the possible. Game theory tells us when we're creating an unstable set of incentives. Our intuition for fairness is
by quotemstr 10y ago
Math is important. It tells us the shape of the possible. Game theory tells us when we're creating an unstable set of incentives. Our intuition for fairness is only a crude approximation of game theory.
Societies and their moral systems (there's little difference) don't come out of nowhere.
Sentiments like "game theory is just capitalistic ideology" make me sad. Math, like all sciences, is true whether you accept it or not.
- CaptainSwing 10y agoit may be 'true' within the set of axioms on which it rests, but 'wrong' in that those axioms (rational self-seeking behaviour, etc) don't hold in reality. More, those axioms themselves could be reflections of capitalist ideology.
- brbrodude 10y agoThat does not mean it's infallible. Basically, Nassim Taleb stuff. We're wrong all the f*ing time and the more confident and blinded by our models we are, the greater are the effects of our screw ups, there IS such thing as hubris, we've known it long before but it's too abstract to constantly take it into consideration, so we just stop minding. It has happened countless times and there's little evidence we've been able to tame our cognitive blind spots at all, we're just humans, after all.
- schoen 10y agoI didn't mean to disparage the math by my remark. I think it's interesting and I look forward to understanding it.