Why Facebook Doesn’t Ban Drug Cartels From Using Their Site
Back in January, a Facebook investigator learned of a Mexican drug cartel that was using Facebook to recruit, train, and pay hitmen. Now the subsequent recourse would seem obvious to some, but much more ambiguous and complex of a situation when business is on the line; Facebook favored the latter. Even though the shocking behavior […]
Ben Simmons, Player Trades, and Game Theory in the NBA
There’s a good chance you’ve heard of the name Ben Simmons before. He plays point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA. He’s a star within and outside of the league. First overall pick in 2016, nominated as an All-Star for the past three years straight, made it to the second round of the […]
You can trust me, but should you? Illustrating Mafia by Graph Theory
Link: https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1227&context=statistics_papers In the classic party game of Mafia, a tense and drawn out psychological battle occurs between an informed minority (the mafia) and uninformed majority (townsfolk). The mafia performs killings at night, their actions unknown to townsfolk until the light of day when it is announced who had perished. All players then enter discussion: […]
Penalties, Serves, and Being Random in Sports
This summer, I, along with billions of others, watched an event that is possibly one of the purest representations of game theory in real life. It’s the soccer Euro 2020 (in 2021) finals, and after 120+ minutes of play, the game has ended in a tie, meaning that the winner will be settled by penalties. […]
Game Theory and US – China Trade War
In a Hawk-Dove Game, two animals fight for a piece of food. Each animal can choose the Hawk strategy to fight aggressively or the Dove strategy to fight passively. If they both behave passively, they divide the food evenly. If one of them fight aggressively and the other fights passively, the aggressive one will get […]
A beautiful history of Game Theory and Graph Theory: how they were connected and developed
Over the course flow, I have been reflecting on the connection of game theory and graph theory, and how both concepts all be linked to the theme of our theme Networks. We may get some insights from the definition: “Graph theory is the study of network structure, while game theory provides models of individual behavior […]
New Zealand School Children Experiment with Six Degrees of Separation
The idea of the six degrees of separation says that every pair of two people on Earth are reachable within 6 connections. Companies like Facebook have also looked into this idea. Facebook graphed and analyses the connections between its users discovering that on average they are connected by 3.46 degrees. The idea of the close […]
Triadic closure, induced homophily, and their impacts on creating a polarized society
It is common knowledge that people with similar interests, backgrounds, and preferences are likely to be connected to each other. Whether people are aware or not, this is called homophily and it has been found to be closely related to triadic closure. The principle of triadic closure states that “if two people in a social […]
How Social Networks Among Fish Can Save the Coral Reefs
Although fish can’t verbally communicate with each other the way humans can, there are some striking similarities with regard to how group behavior can be a helpful signaling device to guide others. A school or group of fish gathered in one spot is a signal to other fish that the area is safe from predators. […]
The Network Theory Behind Echo Chambers
Echo chambers — bubbles where every person in a community parrots back the same beliefs, frustrations, and sentiments to each other, thus creating not only an endless loop of the same opinions that no other opinions can enter through, and also amplifies these beliefs, frustrations, and sentiments— have turned out to be incredibly dangerous pressure […]
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