Friday, July 11, 2014

Mark Buchanan — How to cooperate with the future

The message that the simple institution of democratic voting -- IF the outcome of the vote is then effectively enforced on the behavior of all individuals -- can be hugely beneficial for overcoming intergenerational tragedies of the commons. Secondarily, that analyses of what is possible in overcoming these kinds of problems is misleading and naive if conducted in the framework of strictly self-interested agents; pro-social norms in the behavior of real people are a resource for cooperation that we can put to good use.
Translation: Ordinary people in a modern democracy are not sociopaths like their "betters".

The Physics of Finance

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