Coronavirus Pandemic and the Strength of Weak Ties
The significance of weak ties has been studied and examined over the years, and with the presence of the pandemic, its significance is showing even more. Weak ties have gone far in representing human connection. Even with people we barely know, as social beings, we crave their presence and attention. When we are void of […]
Laughter and Social Graphs
According to a study done at UCLA, hearing people laugh together can be enough information to tell whether those people are friends or not. In a sample of 966 participants from 24 societies, people were able to distinguish friends from strangers with an accuracy of 53-67%. The study’s findings show that the act of co-laughter […]
How Game Theory Could Have Predicted Kabul’s Downfall
News of the US’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 has widely been received with shock and surprise around the world. As recently as 14 days before the Taliban took control of Kabul, a US intelligence report estimated they could reach the city within, with total control achieved within 90 days. Few nations expected the […]
How Mapping Services Can Use Game Theory to Improve Travel Times for Everyone
https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/06/23/1026653/using-machine-learning-to-build-maps-that-give-smarter-driving-advice/ In the article Using machine learning to build maps that give smarter driving advice from the MIT Technology Review, a summary and a transcript are provided of an interview with Dr. Rade Stanojevic, who studies network economics in Qatar. In the interview, Dr. Stanojevic discusses the unique challenges of providing mapping services for a […]
Network Applications on Wikipedia
As I was researching what to write this blog post about, scrolling through various network, graph, and game theory links on Wikipedia, I had a realization about what I was doing. I was browsing a vast online information system, connected by hyperlinks of related content. I was interested in learning more about what this network […]
Should Giving a Bribe be Legal?
Article Link This opinion piece from Peter Coy discusses Kaushik Basu’s proposal for a certain class of bribe-giving to be legal. This decade-old proposal was made by Basu when he was Chief Economic Adviser to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Initially, this idea is concerning to me, since I imagine legalizing bribery (in any form) […]
COVID-19 Misinformation and Social Media Networks
COVID-19 has been on our radar since the backend of 2019, and it’s revealed many things about our society. One of the most significant things the pandemic has brought to the forefront is our interconnectedness that spans locally, nationally, and internationally. It was also very clear how complex the networks we are a part of […]
Reconciling the Balance Theorem and German Political Coalitions
Political organizations provide an adept example for the use of the Balance Theorem in real life. Parties have agendas and favor forming coalitions with certain parties over others due to similar views. In the upcoming German Federal election, six major political parties are seeking to win seats in the Bundestag in order to replace Angela […]
Global Adoption of Bitcoin as a Case of Game Theory Dynamics
With the continual rise in the adoption of cryptocurrencies, nations across the globe are facing the question of how the asset will play a role in influencing respective monetary policies in the future. On September 7, 2021, El Salvador became the first nation to recognize Bitcoin as a legal tender with the passing of the […]
Tit for Tat’s Shortcoming in the Real World
Repeated prisoner’s dilemma is an orthodox repeated game studied in economics, psychology, and even biology to study cooperation and retaliation behaviors. Here, two players are asked to engage in a prisoner’s dilemma situation multiple times, receiving feedback on the other’s response for each iteration. The game captures real-life situations more realistically than the original version, […]
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