4 ms·

> What's your answer? I take the two. Any guesses about where (in society) one can find those who answer "I take the six"?

by ableal 11y ago

vonklaus 11y ago
I would choose 6. I will either get 6% of the test free, or have my original grade which would be decent as I would've studied.
michaelt 11y ago
At schools that do forced-curve grading or grade normalisation. If what matters is your relative rank in the class, rather than your absolute score, then "everyone takes the 2" and "everyone takes the 6" produce the same relative ranks for everyone - i.e. the same result for you - while "you take the 2 while some other people take the 6" reduces your relative rank. If there's a nonlinearity introduced by the mapping from points to a letter grade to a GPA, and you have an extremely detailed knowledge of your current grades, and you know 2 points won't bump you up a letter grade whereas 6 points will (i.e. 2 points and 0 points have the same effect on your GPA, only 6 points will improve your GPA). Among people who believe punishing defectors to produce fair outcomes is more important than producing the best average outcome. If you believe there are inevitably people who will take the 6 points, and those people are assholes, and you'd rather punch an asshole in the face (make them lose 6 points) even if it hurts your hand (you lose 2 points). The same logic that makes people brake for tailgaters. In parts of society that prize 'rational self interest' and believe everyone should look out for their own best interests and let market forces sort it out; or that it's inevitable that other people will do this and if you're not doing it, you're basically a sucker. The same logic that makes people take seven-figure salaries in finance instead of becoming school teachers - and makes salesmen push the product with the highest commission, not the one that's best for the customer.
- reagency 11y ago
  Braking for tailgators reduces the probability and cost of a crash, at the expense of time to destination.
- JesperRavn 11y ago
  To clarify, the theory behind the free market is that the seven figure salary in finance represents a greater contribution to the net social good than a teacher. You personally might not agree with this, but you are completely misrepresenting economic theory when you say that proponents of the free market consider it to be a prisoners dilemma situation. On the contrary they argue for the free market precisely because they believe that in the free market, individual and social goals are aligned
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

> What's your answer? I take the two. Any guesses about where (in society) one can find those who answer "I take the six"?

by ableal 11y ago

> What's your answer? I take the two. Any guesses about where (in society) one can find those who answer "I take the six"?

vonklaus 11y ago

I would choose 6. I will either get 6% of the test free, or have my original grade which would be decent as I would've studied.

michaelt 11y ago

At schools that do forced-curve grading or grade normalisation. If what matters is your relative rank in the class, rather than your absolute score, then "everyone takes the 2" and "everyone takes the 6" produce the same relative ranks for everyone - i.e. the same result for you - while "you take the 2 while some other people take the 6" reduces your relative rank. If there's a nonlinearity introduced by the mapping from points to a letter grade to a GPA, and you have an extremely detailed knowledge of your current grades, and you know 2 points won't bump you up a letter grade whereas 6 points will (i.e. 2 points and 0 points have the same effect on your GPA, only 6 points will improve your GPA). Among people who believe punishing defectors to produce fair outcomes is more important than producing the best average outcome. If you believe there are inevitably people who will take the 6 points, and those people are assholes, and you'd rather punch an asshole in the face (make them lose 6 points) even if it hurts your hand (you lose 2 points). The same logic that makes people brake for tailgaters. In parts of society that prize 'rational self interest' and believe everyone should look out for their own best interests and let market forces sort it out; or that it's inevitable that other people will do this and if you're not doing it, you're basically a sucker. The same logic that makes people take seven-figure salaries in finance instead of becoming school teachers - and makes salesmen push the product with the highest commission, not the one that's best for the customer.

reagency 11y ago
Braking for tailgators reduces the probability and cost of a crash, at the expense of time to destination.
JesperRavn 11y ago
To clarify, the theory behind the free market is that the seven figure salary in finance represents a greater contribution to the net social good than a teacher. You personally might not agree with this, but you are completely misrepresenting economic theory when you say that proponents of the free market consider it to be a prisoners dilemma situation. On the contrary they argue for the free market precisely because they believe that in the free market, individual and social goals are aligned
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]