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Birth control pills for men are great and all, but there is an aspect to it where having kids would require both parents' stated preferences and revealed prefer

Birth control pills for men are great and all, but there is an aspect to it where having kids would require both parents' stated preferences and revealed preferences to align, and that sounds like some interesting relationship game theory.

darkerfire 5y ago
Sounds more like the game was and is no more. Let's be honest, not a lot of men try to trick their partners into unexpected pregnancies. Edit: oh I guess you mean that men will pretend they're not taking the pill while they are. I agree with you then.
- motohagiography 5y ago
  Given both sexes have multiple options for reliable birth control, there is no serendipidy, accidents, or "fate," which previously means at least one of them has to own the decision of being open to the likelihood of conception. Adding a male birth control pill means both have to actively decide to forego birth control to concieve. From a probability perspective, one person "forgetting," can happen, but both? In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, "not bloody likely." I would forsee the impact of a male pill as, at absolute minumum, a decimation of replacement level fertility, if not a total evolutionalry select-out of cultures and populations that adopted it. Males who inevitably moralize not propagating will necessarily die off from a genetic perspective. Nice to have the option as a teenager, but in aggregate, as a strategy it seems unwise.
matheusmoreira 5y ago
I've posted about this game theory before. With male and female birth control, there are 4 possible outcomes: 1. Man and woman don't use birth control. Conception is likely. 2. Man uses birth control. Woman doesn't. Conception is unlikely. 3. Man doesn't use birth control. Woman does. Conception is unlikely. 4. Man and woman use birth control. Conception is extremely unlikely. Conception is only likely when both partners want it. When only women have access to effective birth control, risk of pregnancy is dominated by their decisions. They have a lot more leverage and therefore power: 1. Man has no birth control. Woman doesn't use hers. Conception is likely. 2. Man has no birth control. Woman uses hers. Conception is unlikely.
- motohagiography 5y ago
  Interesting, but the model may benefit from the deception cases, which would have an impact on conception in general, but not just between the two partners. I'd probably include a male paramour case in each scenario, with random participation and strategy in each round. This is to say, I would wonder whether this game is indeed finite and normal form, or at least I'd suspect the dominant strategy does not come from playing it as one.

darkerfire 5y ago

Sounds more like the game was and is no more. Let's be honest, not a lot of men try to trick their partners into unexpected pregnancies. Edit: oh I guess you mean that men will pretend they're not taking the pill while they are. I agree with you then.

motohagiography 5y ago
Given both sexes have multiple options for reliable birth control, there is no serendipidy, accidents, or "fate," which previously means at least one of them has to own the decision of being open to the likelihood of conception. Adding a male birth control pill means both have to actively decide to forego birth control to concieve. From a probability perspective, one person "forgetting," can happen, but both? In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, "not bloody likely." I would forsee the impact of a male pill as, at absolute minumum, a decimation of replacement level fertility, if not a total evolutionalry select-out of cultures and populations that adopted it. Males who inevitably moralize not propagating will necessarily die off from a genetic perspective. Nice to have the option as a teenager, but in aggregate, as a strategy it seems unwise.

matheusmoreira 5y ago

I've posted about this game theory before. With male and female birth control, there are 4 possible outcomes: 1. Man and woman don't use birth control. Conception is likely. 2. Man uses birth control. Woman doesn't. Conception is unlikely. 3. Man doesn't use birth control. Woman does. Conception is unlikely. 4. Man and woman use birth control. Conception is extremely unlikely. Conception is only likely when both partners want it. When only women have access to effective birth control, risk of pregnancy is dominated by their decisions. They have a lot more leverage and therefore power: 1. Man has no birth control. Woman doesn't use hers. Conception is likely. 2. Man has no birth control. Woman uses hers. Conception is unlikely.

motohagiography 5y ago
Interesting, but the model may benefit from the deception cases, which would have an impact on conception in general, but not just between the two partners. I'd probably include a male paramour case in each scenario, with random participation and strategy in each round. This is to say, I would wonder whether this game is indeed finite and normal form, or at least I'd suspect the dominant strategy does not come from playing it as one.