Galt's Gulch

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  • Posted by j_IR1776wg 10 years, 3 months ago
    All you have to do is check your Observational skills, Reason, and Logic at the door and you can join this group:-)
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    • Posted by robgambrill 10 years, 3 months ago
      Well, the title and the summary of the phys.org article are a little dicey (It is a Science Journal). Words do have a precise meaning. And actions are directly observable.

      I probably should have linked directly to the paper itself. None of the vague wishy washy language there. I went straight to the paper, but I linked the blurb. Sorry.

      Game theory is an interest of mine. I had never seen it applied to philosophy before. It helps you sort out transactions between entities.

      Not to bug you, but did you look at the paper that was linked to from that page? If so, do you still think they are barking up the wrong tree.
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      • Posted by j_IR1776wg 10 years, 3 months ago
        Yes I read the article. I agree with you that "Words do have a precise meaning. And actions are directly observable." The truth of our Universal premises (all men are mortal) are inferred from many observations by ourselves and others, and, the absence of the opposite i.e. that no non-mortal men have ever been observed. The only purpose for language, human or computer, is for the listener/receiver to understand the speaker/sender as completely as possible. Hence any study of communicating entities has the potential of adding to the sum total of human understanding. I've long wondered how the neurons in our brains communicate and if they use a binary means of doing so... http://somethingsonmymind.com/epilepsy.h....

        What I found off-putting in the article was the imprecision in the words used by Dr. Wagner, i.e. "Through this process an arbitrary signal with no prebuilt meaning has come to mean something," Wagner said. "It appears that the meaning of a word has almost magically arisen out of this natural process." There is no place for magic in philosophy or science. I would encourage you to pursue your interest in Game Theory while adhering to your words quoted above.
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        • Posted by robgambrill 10 years, 3 months ago
          Here is an example of what floored me (from the research paper). At first glance it looks like a problem in economics or perhaps business management. But look closely...

          "The Spence game is a model of job market signaling. In a job market, employers would like to hire qualified job candidates, but the level
          of a job candidate’s qualification is not directly observable. Instead, a job candidate can send a signal about her qualification to the employer. However, if signals are costless, then job candidates will choose to signal that they are highly qualified regardless of their qualification. If a signal is more costly for low-quality candidates, such that only job candidates of high quality can afford to send it, signaling can be honest in equilibrium. In this case employers get reliable information about a job candidate’s quality."

          ... They are looking at the problems of detecting and dissuading false assertions! That was the first time I've ever seen math applied to a mostly philosophical problem. Maybe it is only a "toe hold" at best, but that's what I found impressive.
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      • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 3 months ago
        Yes, they are barking up the wrong tree. Why does someone recognize that a dog is a dog? Because we bombard them when they are young with "A is for Apple, B is for Bee, C is for Cat, D is for DOG ..." Sheesh, I wonder if I can get that grant money.
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  • Posted by LibertasAutLetum 10 years, 3 months ago
    That is likely the single most pointless and borrrrrrinnnnnng study conducted by man.
    The only entertaining part of that article is the fact that his work was published in a periodical called "PNAS".
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    • Posted by robgambrill 10 years, 3 months ago
      Game theory is kind of interesting. It says stuff about things that other mathematics doesn't touch.

      Take as example the following.

      Rob does a task for Lib. Every time he does this task Lib makes $100 and Rob makes $10.
      What is Rob's optimal strategy?

      Well a LOT of people would start screaming at this point about income inequality. Poor Rob only makes 1/10th as much as Lib.

      But Game Theory says the following. Ignore the amount Lib makes. Play the game as often as you can, and make that $10 bucks every time you can!

      Your only other option is to defect (quit the game), but until you find a better game, play on!
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