In a message dated 3/4/99 3:36:15 AM Central Standard Time,
proftim@speakeasy.org writes:
<< David McFadzean wrote:
>By claiming to be rational you are >telling the world that you are willing to change your mind. Think about >it, anyone can *change your mind*. Isn't that scary? Just by following >these reasonably simple rules, you can affect my belief system, my >actions, the way I look at the world. Think of the games you can play >when you play by those rules.
What assurance does one have that their opponent will stick to those rules,
though? Especially if they have yet to demonstrate the ability to change
their mind on anything thus far?>>
Why "opponent"? Do you think this is a zero-sum game?
You can check the other person's thinking, even if you don't think that
they will change their mind.
Your "opponent" (assuming they are irrational and playing zero sum), may
indeed cause your mind to change, but may not be able to predict HOW your mind
is changed (especially if they are being irrational).
For these reasons it is not necessary for anybody to demonstrate a change
of mind for you to benefit from the game. In fact it is not necessary that
everybody else even be completely rational, though the more rational they are
the more there is to gain through engagement.
Finally, changing your mind on any given issue is not necessarily evidence
of rationality, and some changes of mind can even be characterized as
irrational. Not changing your mind on anything ever is probably evidence of
at least some irrationality, but is not necessarily evidence of complete
irrationality.
>>Is this another Prisoner's Dilemma, David? If so, what's the best strategy?
It might. Though it isn't the only tactic. I personally just try to make
sense and listen - I find that changing or not changing my mind takes care of
itself if I do that. If I see somebody changing their mind too radically or
too many times, I begin to suspect that they may not be really thinking too
hard about things. Evolutionary systems, while dynamic, tend to not be
chaotic on the whole.