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> We initially assume the payoff to the losing team is positive, b > 0, which reflects a ‘compromise worldview’: it is preferable to reach some decision than to
by tqi 7y ago
> We initially assume the payoff to the losing team is positive, b > 0, which reflects a ‘compromise worldview’: it is preferable to reach some decision than to end in deadlock. This payoff scheme captures the common practical value of broad consensus in collective decisions, even as individuals pursue partisan preferences12,13. There is ample evidence that large majorities of Americans, for example, adopt a compromise worldview in their attitudes towards political decisions14. However, others adopt a ‘zero-sum worldview’ in which they prefer deadlock to their party losing, that is, b < 0. The behaviour of people with a zero-sum worldview is simple: they act as zealots, meaning that they always vote for their preferred party regardless of the poll that they see. We begin by focusing on players with a compromise worldview, and then we study groups with a mixture of compromise and zero-sum players, including zero-sum bots.
In the context of voters in our modern politics, does the "compromise" viewpoint even exist?
- jcranberry 7y agoThey do, but they're decreasing in number. They're also kind of boring so they don't get coverage the way highly vocal 'zealots' do.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- bt848 7y agoData on political polarization in America is really interesting. One feature of the data I find fascinating is that in 1994 many people were not "consistently liberal" because they opposed gay marriage. With the big shift toward acceptance of gay marriage these people are now considered "consistently liberal" and by Pew's reckoning this means that liberals have become "more polarized". In my opinion there is no morally defensible compromise position on whether homosexuals deserve their natural rights, so I find this quirk of the survey interesting. If you look at the ten questions of the Pew survey, it seems to me that anyone who can answer on the conservative side of all ten questions (in order to earn the "consistently conservative" epithet) must be the biggest jerk on Earth, whereas someone who answers on the liberal side of all ten has sensible and morally justifiable views, hence I take all the hand-wringing over polarization with a grain of salt. https://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/ https://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/political-polarizati...
- oh_sigh 7y agoI don't want to nitpick, but I don't see how gay marriage in this context is a natural right, since really it is just a government actively providing a service(marriage licensing). A natural right might be more like the right for two gay people to cohabit, or a religious marriage joining two gay people in marriage.
- bt848 7y agoThe actual question on the Pew survey is "Homosexuality should be discouraged by society." agree/disagree. The fraction of people agreeing with this statement has fallen greatly in the last 25 years, mostly due to demographic replacement.
- oh_sigh 7y agoYou can discourage something(which is a natural right of free speech), but still think people have the right to practice it - you might just think it is a bad idea for individual or social health(e.g. You can discourage people from becoming hermits, because a society of hermits isn't much of a society at all)