Road Block

It seems as though I've hit a roadblock on my way to my paper about neo-altruism. While learning more about game theory I picked up Rationality and the Literate Mind by Roy Harris and have since been wrapped up in it. It seems to me that the responsible thing to do before delving too much into game theory is to verse myself in the topic of rationality. Although the economic understanding of rationality is fairly simple in that it assumes the presence or absence of a player's tendency to maximize their happiness or utility, I think it would behoove me to understand rationality from a more academic and indeed linguistic approach.

It seems as though the smartest people in the world are either linguists or mathematicians.

I've already written about my sympathy for rationality on fb but not here. I've come to realize that rationality, what I like to call ration but I don't think that's a word like I mean it, is yet another layer I put on the universe. And by the universe I mean God, everything. For the most part there seem to be emotions and ration, which are not opposites but simply something I try to identify my observations, interactions and participations with the universe with on a daily basis. I realize that I can't get to the universe, I can't strip away my cultural and emotional filters and have the bare mechanisms of existence be what I call rationality. At least I think it would help to start with someone who seems to know what they're talking about. For the most part in an academic perspective Roy Harris has a solid and historical grasp on the topic.

So here I am, stuck yet again in my own thirst for knowledge.

Coming soon

I haven't posted anything because I'm working on a paper relating long run Nash equilibrium, altruism and upsetting or maintaining the status-quo and its effects on international relations and policy. Stay tuned.

Finals

In the spirit of finals I should say this: The 25 page research paper not started is an infinitely longer task than the 25 page research paper started.

Advisors and Regulators

One has to assume that if economic/financial advisors and regulators really understood what was going on, they wouldn't be advisors or regulators. It's not that they aren't smart enough. It's a lack of confidence in humanity. It's about making money or doing the right thing. If these two always occured in conjunction with each other then our advisors and regulators would be rich and our bank executives poor. Pick your battles but don't tell me somebody getting paid any less than $100k a year actually knows what's going on.