Using Bayes’ Rule to Create Trading AI in Board Games
The development of AI that can effectively negotiate has long been a topic of study. In this paper the authors discuss various methodologies of generating human-like trading agents in the board game Settlers of Catan. These agents are generated using several different methods including using Bayesian Networks. The Bayesian Network agent, which tries to guess […]
Tik Tok vs. YouTube: Going Viral and The Rich-Get-Richer Phenomenon
Would it be easier to go viral on TikTok or YouTube? As a user of both platforms, the answer seems clear. Speaking from personal experience, if you constantly post on TikTok, you are bound to get a video with tens or hundreds of thousands of views soon enough. However, even if you post on YouTube […]
Bayes’ Theorem and COVID-19 Test Accuracy
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/18/obscure-maths-bayes-theorem-reliability-covid-lateral-flow-tests-probability The drastic impact of false negative tests and false positive tests on being able to accurately surveil disease prevalence and spreading became apparent to me when studying Bayes’ Theorem. In a particular problem set where we were asked to determine the chance at which a doctor would inaccurately diagnose patients given a 1% […]
Trends in Pop Culture and Information Cascades
“When people are connected by a network, it becomes possible for them to influence each other’s behavior and decisions” (Easley and Kleinberg, 483). This quote is especially true in regards to internet trends in pop culture today. Truthfully though, one of the most striking regularities of human society is to conform to society’s norms and […]
Maximizing Profits by Finding the Tipping Point for New Technologies
When to invest in new technology is an important question for investors trying to maximize returns. According to 2019 research from top consulting firm Bain & Company, the concept of tipping points holds the answer for when to invest in new technologies and when to wait for another better opportunity. The article, titled Tipping Points: […]
Information Cascades and Game Theory in Revolution
This article by two researchers at the University of Birmingham in England explores how information cascades play out in instances of revolution. They frame rebellion as a game between the rich and the poor in a society. In the initial state of the game, only the rich are enfranchised, as is typical of an oppressive […]
Rethinking Network Effects
Based on: https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/21-086_a5189999-6335-4890-b050-a59a4b665198.pdf In class, we have spent some time analyzing network effects. As defined in the Networks, Crowds, and Markets book, network effects arise when one incurs an explicit benefit for aligning their behavior with the behavior of others. A commonly-cited example of a situation where network effects come into play is the telephone […]
The Effects of the Rise of E-commerce fueled by COVID-19 on the Attractiveness of the Long Tail Business Model
According to the US Census Bureau, Americans spent $791.7 billion during 2020 on e-commerce, representing an over 30% growth from 2019. This behavior translated to e-commerce accounting for 14% of total retail sales, compared to 11% in 2019. Although online shopping was common before the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers were forced to rely on digital retails […]
Power Laws of Real World Networks
Within this article Erica Klarreich describes how although power laws have been used to make sense of certain networks, power laws may not be as prevalent as often believed. She initially goes into depth about how scientists have recently claimed that power laws are far reaching and seen in many areas of our lives. One […]
Deezer VS Spotify, Can the Little Guy Win?
For years I have been using the small music streaming platform Deezer. I discovered it after hearing about it while watching a French music show. After hearing about the platform and seeing its features I decided to switch from Spotify which surprised many of friends. There are clear benefits to Spotify especially given the amount […]
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