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game theory Archives - Eve Poole

Joy and Prosperity

By | Theology | No Comments

Paper given at the University of Aberdeen, 11 May 2017 

Luke 18:22-3 ‘Jesus said, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” But when the rich young man heard this, he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy.’

The hypothesis of this Joy and Prosperity event is that Christians have traditionally driven a wedge between them. A bit like the rich young man, there has been a feeling that you can’t have both joy and prosperity: blessed are the poor. Today we are testing that assumption, and my contribution is to look at the question through the lens of the axioms of classical economic thought. Read More

love your enemies – the business case?

By | Business | No Comments

If one applies market thinking to capitalism, it becomes apparent that capitalism is in danger of becoming a monopoly. This movement towards supremacy appears to lie at the heart of much of its current shortcomings – being the only game in town means that capitalism owns the rules, with the old adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely. What should capitalism do to save itself from the torpor of monopoly? It should cherish its rivals, realising that without them to keep it honest, it will fail. Rather than fighting them, capitalism should take a lesson from Axelrod’s Prisoner’s Dilemma competition and strive to win against itself, rather than by competing head-to-head. And might co-opetition – with apologies to Nash, Axelrod, Nalebuff and Brandenburger, increase the total set of outcomes?

On Human Responsibility

By | Business, Theology | No Comments

When are we going to grow up? One indicator we are told for human maturity is the ability to take responsibility for our actions. On that basis, we still have a long way to go. We have literally centuries of practice in evading responsibility, and even in today’s post-modern individualistic world, it’s always someone else’s fault. Read More