Weekly Wikipedia Find: Prisoner's dilemma

So here we are, a thought experiment coming back on the scene and kicking incest to the curb. How utterly disappointing. And middlebrow. Seriously now, if someone out there sees the the incestuous deep sea monster thought experiment Wikipedia entry, forward it my way.

This thought experiment, the Prisoner's dilemma, is actually a problem in Game Theory as described by the RAND Corporation.

I'm not going to bother to try to do this one justice so you should probably just read it yourself if you're interested. I'll just mention the point that if two accomplices in a crime are brought in for their crime, and given the chance to betray the other (in separate interrogations, natch), then "rational choice leads the two players to both play defectly even though each player's individual reward would be greater if they both played cooperately."

But remember that movie about game theory Nobel Prize winner John Forbes Nash Jr.--A Beautiful something-- and how it was only so-so, but it had the great scene where Nash and his faculty pals used game theory to pick up girls in a bar. (I believe they decided they shouldn't all go after the blonde--I'm not sure, I only saw it like once. It was so middlebrow.)

Wikipedia by Week

Week Thirty-Nine: Demimonde
Week Thirty-Eight: Haemophilia in European royalty
Week Thirty-Seven: Library of America
Week Thirty-Six: Honeypot
Week Thirty-Five: Glasgow smile
Week Thirty-Four: Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel
Week Thirty-Three: Mono no aware
Week Thirty-Two: Royal intermarriage
Week Thirty-One: Amputee fetishism
Week Thirty: Turtles all the way down
Week Twenty-Nine: The Diogenes Club
Week Twenty-Eight: E pur si muove!
Week Twenty-Seven: Unico
Week Twenty-Six: Panopticon
Week Twenty-Five: Legendary
Week Twenty-Four: Ostern
Week Twenty-Three: Kilroy was here
Week Twenty-Two: Jack Parsons
Week Twenty-One: The Wold Newton Universe
Week Twenty: Anonymous
Week Nineteen: Monty Hall problem
Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Monty Hall problem

I've been accumulating a lot of cool Wikipedia finds lately, oh boy, oh boy. So instead of presenting you with one of those, I thought I'd bring back an old standby: the thought experiment! Door number three, Monty.

That's right, the Monty Hall problem. This one I actually specifically sought out as I had a bit of inspiration while I was at work. You see, the men's washroom has no urinals. Just three toilets. So when you enter the washroom, all you see is three stall doors. So it's always a bit of a crap shoot choosing. Zing!

So the problem (or "the Monty Hall") is a probability puzzle based on the Monty Hall-hosted game show Let's Make a Deal. It exists in a weird alternate reality where instead of all the doors having an equal probability of 1/3 of containing the choice prize (versus the booby prizes), once you initially choose a door, the knowing host eliminates a dud door, thus creating an existential paradox where you, the contestant, will have a greater probability of winning the prize by switching your choice of doors (the remaining door has 2/3 of containing the choice prize now). The alternate reality in question: ours! Dun dun dun.

Next week: Monsters! of the Deep Sea!

Wikipedia by Week

Week Eighteen: Brown Booby
Week Seventeen: Dieter Dengler
Week Sixteen: New Jerusalem
Week Fifteen: Technological Singularity
Week Fourteen: Numbers Station
Week Thirteen: Culper Ring
Week Twelve: Mary Sue
Week Eleven: Byford dolphin diving bell accident
Week Ten: Deep-sea gigantism
Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Deep-sea Gigantism

Deep-sea gigantism is not the name of my erotic physical reaction to fish as the tabloids would have you believe. Rather, it is the disposition of deep-sea dwelling creatures to grow to a larger size than their shallow water compatriots. Possible explanations include the major motion picture Cloverfield now playing in a theatre near you.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Nine: Bloop
Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion

Weekly Wikipedia Find: Bloop

Bloop.

Bloop.

Bloop.

Bloop.

Bloop.

Bloop.

Bloop.

Bloop.

Bloop.

The year was 1997. The place was the deep sea, off the southwest coast of South America. Once, this is when we would have broken into tactical procedures, a Soviet submarine, red death from below fast approaching. The year was 1997. This was no Soviet. This bloop, this ultra low frequency sound, it could be an animal. It could be, if it were no smaller than a blue whale, rather much larger at that. Unresolved.

Wikipedia by Week

Week Eight: Rat king
Week Seven: Gustave Doré
Week Six: Tomorrow
Week Five: Borscht Belt
Week Four: Swampman
Week Three: Chinese room
Week Two: Ambrose Burnside
Week One: Lolita fashion