begin oe_protect.scr
Ray Ingles <sorceror@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> On 2006-06-13, Larry Qualig <lqualig@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> The real world seldom maps neatly to a game. If he'd decided to play
>>> the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma or Stag Hunt the results might have been
>>> different.
>>
>> This game had similarities to the iterated prisoners dilemma with the
>> exception that there was no way to 'punish' bad behavior.
>
> That is a key feature, and shows up a lot in studies of this sort of
> phenomenon. See, e.g.:
>
> http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/idl/projects/multiagent/dilemmas/
>
> (HP is applying this research to Internet protocols, actually.)
The approach is not necessary - information theory is enough to
demonstrate how networks need to operate. Whilst it might be interesting
to consider the behaviour of higher level functions, in reality,
you only need to worry about whether they're trying to send a file,
message or stream. If it's a stream, then it's time-critical, otherwise
it's not. If it's not, then you can afford to use lossy protocols, like
IP, if it is, then protocols like IP only work if they're significantly
over-provided - which is expensive & wasteful.
>
>> I don't believe the purpose of the exercise
>> was to show that this is *always* the nature of human behavior. But
>> rather to show that under certain conditions human behavior is
>> predictable.
>
> In a statistical sense, perhaps. But even then, well, there were people
> who protected Jews and Gypsies from the Nazis...
>
There've been numerous studies of this kind, invariably they show that
people are just not very nice at all, have an overblown deference to
authority (or perceived authority), and given what they perceive to be
the backing of authority, are willing to inflict extremely unpleasant
actions on individuals.
As you say, there have been some exceptions - unfortunately, that
appears to be what they remain as.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
As Zeus said to Narcissus, "Watch yourself."
|
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