All articles tagged with #game theory
The article explores how algorithms used in pricing can inadvertently collude and drive up prices, making regulation challenging. It discusses recent research showing that even benign algorithms can lead to high prices and highlights the complexities of regulating algorithmic behavior in markets, emphasizing the subtlety of strategic interactions and the potential for unintended outcomes.
Scott Barrett's 2025 fantasy football draft guide emphasizes a game theory optimal approach, focusing on high upside players, strategic planning, and adaptability. It advocates for early loading up on RBs and WRs, using mock drafts to prepare, and embracing bold, high-risk picks to maximize potential for league-winning outcomes.
Fans believe Scott Riccardi intentionally lost his final game on Jeopardy! because he answered incorrectly on an easy question, leading to speculation that he threw the game to avoid returning for another season or to end his winning streak.
The article explores how mathematics, particularly game theory and mixed strategies, influence penalty shootouts in football, highlighting the importance of unpredictability for players to maximize their chances of scoring or saving penalties.
The article explains that vaccine hesitancy among rational individuals can be understood through game theory, which shows that individual decisions to skip vaccines are influenced by the collective behavior and incentives within communities. High vaccination rates create a free rider problem, leading to potential outbreaks when rates decline, especially in pockets of low coverage. Effective communication and community engagement, rather than moral blame, are key to improving vaccination uptake and maintaining herd immunity.
Players of the Silent Hill 2 remake have discovered hidden messages in the game's TV static, decoded as Morse code. These messages, including "AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND…" and "WHY DID YOU DO IT JAMES," suggest a time loop theory where protagonist James repeatedly revisits Silent Hill. This theory is supported by a complex puzzle involving collectible Polaroid photos, which spell out "YOU’VE BEEN HERE FOR TWO DECADES." The game's creative director, Mateusz Lenart, acknowledged the puzzle's difficulty and congratulated players on solving it.
In 2005, Japanese electronics company Maspro Denkoh used a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide whether Sotheby's or Christie's would auction its $20 million art collection. Christie's won by choosing scissors, a decision influenced by game theory and advice from children, and the story has since become legendary in the auction world.
Balatro, a new poker roguelike game from developer LocalThunk, introduces mechanics that allow players to cheat the game's base play, making it easier to accrue chips and achieve high-scoring hands. This sub-genre of indie games seeks to address the inherent money-sink structure of traditional gambling games by introducing mechanics that substitute planning, strategy, and brokenness for luck. Balatro offers both the pleasure of the game itself and the meta-joy of beating the system, making it an early contender for the best new roguelike of the year.
YouTuber MatPat, known for his Game Theory channel, has announced his semi-retirement from YouTube, with his last Theory episode scheduled for March 9. The channels will be handed off to four members of his staff, as he expressed a desire to step back from the "work first" focus that has taken a toll on him. Despite this, he plans to stay involved behind the scenes and potentially appear in some livestreams and Style Theory videos.
Slay The Princess, a new horror game developed by Black Tabby Studios, offers a gorgeously gory and unsettling experience. The game, featuring beautiful artwork by Abby Howard, combines elements of visual novel horror and player choice, reminiscent of The Stanley Parable. With a responsive narrative and multiple branching paths, Slay The Princess explores themes of perception, player interaction with characters, and the consequences of choice. The game's unsettling intimacy and unsettling horror elements make for an uncomfortable yet effective gaming experience.
A study from Dartmouth, published in PNAS Nexus, has used game theory to develop "unbending strategies" to counter bullies and extortionists. The study found that when faced with an unbending player, the best response for an extortionist is to offer a fair split, promoting fairness and cooperation. Weaker parties are advised to be unbending and resist compromising first, transforming the interaction into an ultimatum game that incentivizes extortionists to be fairer and more cooperative.
New research from Dartmouth shows that being uncooperative can help individuals on the weaker side of a power dynamic achieve a more equal outcome and inflict losses on their abusive counterpart. The study, based on game theory, reveals an "unbending strategy" where resistance to being steamrolled causes extortionists to ultimately lose more than their opponent, resulting in a fairer outcome. This research has implications for labor negotiations, international relations, and even the integration of cooperation into artificial intelligence systems. The findings highlight the importance of standing up to bullies and promoting fairness and cooperation in various real-world scenarios.
MIT neuroscientists have developed a computational model that can predict human emotions, including joy, gratitude, confusion, regret, and embarrassment, based on the prisoner’s dilemma game theory. The model uses factors such as a person’s desires, expectations, and whether their actions are being observed to predict emotional responses. The researchers used scenarios from a British game show called “Golden Balls” to train the model, which outperformed previous models in predicting emotions, signaling significant progress in emotional artificial intelligence.
The game-theoretic aspects of the US debt ceiling negotiations suggest that cooperation is the most likely outcome, as the negative payoffs associated with not cooperating are potentially so large for both sides. The political, financial, and economic costs of default are thought to be so disastrous that a deal will be struck before a default occurs. The Biden administration has more attractive fallbacks than House Republicans, including appealing to the 14th Amendment, issuing premium bonds, or minting a platinum coin. While investors may be complacent to the risks, the relative calm of market pricing appears warranted by the relative strengths and weaknesses of the parties to the negotiations.
Parrondo's Paradox is a concept from game theory that demonstrates how a combination of losing strategies can ultimately become a winner. It originated from a thought experiment known as the Brownian ratchet, which is a tiny device that can convert heat into mechanical work without losing thermal energy. The paradox has been applied successfully in various fields, including investment advice, quantum computing, and evolution. It may even hold the key to understanding life itself.