Comments on: Episode 002: Why Campaigns Go Negative: An Intro to Game Theory

By: TwstdElf

TwstdElf — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 23:31:43 +0000

Re: Why people vote:
Well, I’m no expert, but imo I think the payoff for casting your seemingly insignificant vote is really personal satisfaction. People like to feel like they’ve been “heard”. While it’s true that mathematically their vote is really quite a small factor, they still feel they have done what they can to influence the outcome. I think it’s similar to the Lottery. While your odds of winning are astronomical, you know your guaranteed not to win if you don’t play. So buying that ticket gives you a tiny spark of hope that your ticket may be The One. Or back to voting, that your ballot will tip the scale. I don’t think the average person is looking at the odds – or even the final outcome, as I’m sure you’ve heard, ‘well, I voted, so I have the right to bitch’ – but rather the greater portion of the payoff is actually not connected to the outcome, but is the internal/psychological of having ‘done something’. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts if there is something I’m not considering, or being naive about here.

Dig these podcasts, keep it up.

By: Andrius Kulikauskas

Andrius Kulikauskas — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 03:25:59 +0000

Hi, I’m writing a math book for adult self-learners. I was so inspired by Tom’s “Punk Math” book idea and success at Kickstarter that I thought I need to be similarly visceral in my sensitivity, so I’m starting “Gospel Math” http://www.gospelmath.com I’m listening to your podcasts to see what you’ve done and I hope to be in touch.

My political science professor Michael Gillespie gave a rational reason why people should or should not vote. It is that in a mature democracy it matters less Who wins, and more by what Mandate. Which is to say, if you win by a landslide, your position is much stronger and you have much more leeway than if you win by the tip of your nose. You can afford to alienate that many more people. So with regard to the size of the Mandate, every vote is worth exactly that – one vote.

In a mature democracy, the people have more allegiance to the system than to either party. Otherwise, there can be only one election, as game theory suggests, because the party in power would usurp power.