:: Us, the psychopaths : Game theory and market democracy ::

How game theory developed by John Nash (Nobel prize for economics, 1994) was used first to run the economy, and then to justify conservative politics.

Considering the widespread acceptance of the market based social ideals, and the underlying game theory behind these ideals, the simple question begs to be asked: "So... Is that all there is?"

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• game
• theory
• John
• Nash
• Buchanan
• capitalism
• free
• market
• tangospring

[rh7onda7]

the "free" market gave us enron, bear sterns, lehmans , trilion dollar bailout - free markets only work if fully transparent and appropriate regulations are in place - else the sociopaths in business and governments will make the ordinary citizen suffer

[sleepyeyeguy]

Something that isn't really being considered is the extreme malability of the views of the herd. Marketing is a loophole to individual freedom (people are easily influenced by strong psychological tactics)

[LogicalFlawDetector]

And game theory is not a science of human behavior. It is an applied mathematical field which only says what the optimal strategy is. Under market situations, human beings maximize benefits and firms maximize profits *within the rules of the game*.

[LogicalFlawDetector]

Leftwing crap like this is the reason why I became a libertarian. Pursuit of self-interest is simply human beings responding to incentives. If I am given two different jobs, all else being equal, of $100,000 and $150,000 a year, it is in my self-interest to pick the second job. It comes down to good incentives vs bad incentives. And being self-interested doesn't mean we ignore other aspects of culture and charity. Giving to charity is in my emotional self-interest.

[odenskrigare]

Psychopathy isn't psychosis. That's insulting to psychotics.

[edwardsson777]

For a good description of the traits of psychopaths and how they relate to politics go to "freedom from conscience -- psychopaths" and check out the video. Scary stuff.

[MrCynix]

@pipobun It's not that rationality is psychopathic. What they are trying to convey is that with psychopaths, rationality is the sole factor in the equation - where as normal welladjusted human beings consider emotions, just to name one. And game theory doesn't dictate people's decisions, it merely maps out what is the rational response to any given arbitrary situation. Something along those lines. Oh, and Nash didn't think up game theory, only the nash equilibrium.

Peace.

[Decarock10]

@rh7onda7 how is a government bailout a free market principle? how are government regulators not doing their job a problem of the free market? just curious

[pipobun]

it's funny how in this film rational is considered the psychopathic, also the guy that thought up game theory was a paranoid schizophrenic.

people don't act the model of game theory in real life.

[CytherLynx]

Also!!!

Austrian economics > Keynesianism

READ:

economics in one lesson

[CytherLynx]

people here should read 'the law', by bastiat

[currentliabilities]

Capitalism superior to democracy....??? Don't they know they are 2 separate things completely? Democracy is a political institution to make decisions that have consequences for the entire society. Capitalism is an economic system in which market participants own the factors of production and resources allocation is decided by actions of those participants. The only way democracy relates to economics is by voting decisions that pool money (taxes) that are used to buy public goods (police, roads).