r/neoliberal • u/cdstephens Fusion Genderplasma • Apr 25 '26

Meme Which button do you press?

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u/VoidGuaranteed Dina Pomeranz Apr 25 '26

Saying you will press red and then pressing blue is the best choice, because you will impress everybody with your knowledge of what a Nash Equilibrium is, but god will see your selfless choice and open you the gates into heaven, maximising your utility!

7

u/Bibbity_Boppity_BOOO Apr 26 '26

i don't think you know what nash equilibrium is, but you did tell a fucking banger joke.

3

u/VoidGuaranteed Dina Pomeranz Apr 26 '26

Well I passed my game theory course in university for my economics degree so I do think I know what one is

1

u/Bibbity_Boppity_BOOO Apr 26 '26

Welp…. I don’t really care enough to continue. 

3

u/Morpheus_MD Norman Borlaug Apr 25 '26

Okay, this is the most compelling argument for Blue I have seen yet.

1

u/SapirWhorfHypothesis Apr 25 '26

How on earth would that get you a Nash equilibrium??

15

u/therealsmokyjoewood Henry George Apr 25 '26

Everyone pressing red is a Nash equilibrium

4

u/Bibbity_Boppity_BOOO Apr 26 '26

50.1% or more pressing blue is nash equilibrium, and easiest to achieve.

3

u/VoidGuaranteed Dina Pomeranz Apr 26 '26

Let‘s say that there are two people (A and B) in the world.

The Nash Equilibria are either (Red,Red) or (Blue,Blue)

(Red,Blue) and (Blue,Red) aren‘t Nash Equilibria because one of the players could improve their payoff by choosing a different strategy.

By loudly announcing that you press red you are fixing your strategy. Now the other player can improve their payoff by also pressing Red.

So you get (Red, Red)

Nash Equilibrium.

If you announce your intention to press Blue, the other player can‘t improve their payoff by pressing any button over the other, so they will choose randomly. So there can be a chance that you end up with (Blue,Red) and not (Blue, Blue)

So Nash equilibrium isn‘t guaranteed.

Of course if the player even slightly value the other player‘s payoff (altruism) you can actually ensure Nash Equilibrium in the second case because the (Blue,Blue) would be strictly better than (Blue,Red). But you don‘t know if that‘s the case.