Utility Maximizer's guide to replicators, networks, game theory, and civilization
Imagine you could only interact with the other people in a small town. The personalities, interests, and hobbies that you could be exposed to are limited by geographical location. In a small population, there may be some people with fringe ideas or unusual interests, but not in great enough numbers to form dedicated communities. But … Continue reading The paradox of interconnectedness
A couple months ago, and in succession, two public intellectuals, Jonathan Haidt and Charles Murray, put out uncharacteristically poorly thought out comments. They denounced online anonymity, specifically, with respect to their preferred social platform, Twitter, although their comments were meant to be generalizable to the Internet. This is an example of what one could call … Continue reading The Case for Anonymity Online
Collective Action You are probably familiar with the prisoner’s dilemma. For those who don’t know, here’s a quick summation. The prisoner’s dilemma is the archetypical game theory situation. See the above example. If both players confess, both loose 6 points of utility. If neither confess, both loose one point of utility. But if one confesses, … Continue reading What is Social Capital?
Epiphany a Week 