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06/25/11(Sat)06:51:23 No.336698254 File1308999083.jpg-(142 KB, 589x609, 1296377952645.jpg)
Nobody
ever stops loving Cracky. Game Theory is an interesting field of
applied mathematics that is increasingly being used to study and
understand human behavior. Practically any conflict or contest between
human beings can be broken down and explained by mathematics. But
researchers have recently been uncovering solid evidence of something
disturbing: someone acting rationally and strategically can often be
defeated by someone irrational and insane. Consider an experiment with
two players. The first is given a pile of money and can choose how much
of it to offer to the second player. The second player can then choose
to either accept the split, or destroy all of the money. From the
rational perspective of game theory, the second player should always
accept the offer, even if it's a grossly uneven split, because even
getting a little bit is better than getting nothing at all. Because of
this, it's most rational for the first player to offer as little as
possible, on the assumption that the second player is rational and will
accept it rather than destroying all the money and walking away with
nothing. In clinical trials, sane players sometimes made threats of
destroying the money if they weren't offered at least half of it, but
these threats were not seen as credible and they ended up accepting the
unfair offers anyway. But truly insane and irrational people, who were
genuinely prepared to destroy the money and walk out with nothing, fared
much better in the game. Many throughout history have known it: madness
is power. |