Game Theory and Facebook’s Fake News Issue
The article linked below uses game theory to address the recent issues with Facebook’s fake news that have come to light. Jeff Ely, Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison are professors within the Economics department at Northwestern University who have chosen to analyze the Facebook fake news phenomenon through the lens of game theory. “Fake […]
Are We Prepared for the Next Epidemic?
Considering the rapid spread of the Zika virus, and the rise of mosquitos due to higher temperatures, there should be alarm bells ringing for fear of the next epidemic. The article below warns us of cases like Zika, which is not only spread by mosquitos but also through sexual transmission. The branching process (as we discussed in class) of how […]
The Tragedy of the Internet of Things
IoT is the concept of having everyday objects be connected in an online network. It has been conceptualized and realized in areas such as smart cities, to manage things like transportation system and water supply, or wearable technology, to store a person’s heart rate and sleep pattern. Iot would give us the ability to collected […]
How Trump Destroyed Pluralistic Ignorance to Win the Election
Related link: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/psysociety/decoding-trump-mania-the-psychological-allure-of-hating-political-correctness-part-3/ Donald Trump’s stunning electoral college victory presidency sent reverberations across the world. All the pollsters had projected a landslide Clinton victory, and with Trump’s bombastic and crude demeanor, he seemed to be the last person many would expect to ascend to the leader of the free world. How did Trump manage to […]
“Irrelevant” Alternatives and the Presidential Election
The system by which the United States selects its presidents does not possess the property of independence of irrelevant alternatives, for several reasons, even assuming single-peaked preferences. Consider one case, with 3 candidates– Left, Right, and Ultra-Left: 40% of Americans have the following single-peaked preference ordering: Left > Ultra-Left > Right; 45% of Americans: Right […]