Game Theory
Two game theorists win the Nobel Prize in Economics. Game theory has been a hot topic for a quite awhile now in several fields: economics, computer science, sociology, political science, etc. Despite its welcoming name, the subject matter is rather mathematical and complex. For a fun and non-technical read on some elements of game theory, specifically the Prisoner's Dilemma, I suggest the last few chapters of Douglas Hofstadter's Metamagical Themas.
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I know how to win the Prisoner's Dillemma. I defect!
I seriously recommend Metamagical Themas, which was a regular column on Scientific American way back when.
Here's an example of what Hofstadter did:
He announced a lottery in Scientific American. The prize of the lottery was $1,000,000/N, where N is the number of entries submitted. So if only one person entered, they would win the million dollars. If ten entered, one would win $100,000. If a million people entered, the lucky winner would win $1. There was a catch: you could enter as many times as you want, and all you had to do is send in a postcard with your name, address, and a positive integer representing how many entries you wanted to make.
You can imagine what kind of responses he received, but you should read the essay to find out.
luuuuuuuuring lottery
nach, ever the true nerd.
not that their uberlib slant might be stretching it a bit, but this article goes through numerous Vietnam bombing decisions and Schelling's role in them:
http://www.slate.com/id/2127862/nav/tap2/
"Schelling's lessons can be seen clearly in the classified memorandums reproduced in The Pentagon Papers, the top-secret history of the Vietnam War that Daniel Ellsberg leaked to the New York Times."
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