whpearson comments on "Playing to Win" - Less Wrong

14 Post author: CronoDAS 09 April 2009 03:45PM

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Comment author: whpearson 10 April 2009 07:29:30AM *  0 points [-]

If we only learn about how to win competitive games, then we have fewer tools for dealing with cooperative situations

Which, to me, is about more than just bluffing and psychological warfare.

Take my comments in light of the context.

I don't know. I could easily imagine the answer being both, depending on circumstance, thus making as simple a characterization of them as you seem to implying pretty difficult.

I can't really get a handle on where you are coming from. Are you saying that it is often useful to bluff the people you are cooperating with, or would it be a once in the blue moon kind of situation? Give an example of it helping?

But you also seem to be suggesting that approaching an objective competitively is inherently less efficient than approaching it cooperatively. Surely you don't mean that.

Only if you have total knowledge of the situation... Consider the human body, the places where competition help it to achieve objectives, (the brain possibly and the immune system) are the portions trying to gain knowledge about the outside world. Can you tell me how competition would help the human body apart from in these situations?

Comment author: loqi 10 April 2009 03:55:53PM 0 points [-]

Are you saying that it is often useful to bluff the people you are cooperating with, or would it be a once in the blue moon kind of situation? Give an example of it helping?

Drivers often slow down or stop far ahead of time for pedestrians, wasting more of their time to do so than it costs the pedestrian to wait for the car. When I'm on foot and anticipate this, I often bluff the driver by looking away or pretending to change direction. It's minor, but effective and quite frequent.

Only if you have total knowledge of the situation

What about perfect knowledge of a prisoner's dilemma involving non-cooperative agents?

Comment author: whpearson 12 April 2009 10:43:56PM 0 points [-]

Drivers often slow down or stop far ahead of time for pedestrians, wasting more of their time to do so than it costs the pedestrian to wait for the car. When I'm on foot and anticipate this, I often bluff the driver by looking away or pretending to change direction. It's minor, but effective and quite frequent.

Could you do it by signaling openly?

What about perfect knowledge of a prisoner's dilemma involving non-cooperative agents?

What do you mean by non-cooperative agents, that they always defect, or don't communicate? And do the agents have perfect knowledge or is there a third party?

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