Re: virus: The Prisoner's Dilemma

KMO (kmo@c-realm.com)
Sun, 21 Feb 1999 22:04:54 -0800

David McFadzean wrote:

> >While it would be rational to adopt the most adaptive strategy, it
> >doesn't follow that the most adaptive strategy is rationality.
>
> Maybe not, but the meta-strategy of adopting the most adaptive
> strategy *is* rationality.

In the episode of Star Trek: TOS that someone cited here recently, Spock claims to have come to the logical conclusion that it was time for an act of desperation. Might rationality prescribe an act of faith? (As if I haven't been reading the "rabid" threads.)

By the way, I read that article on Fischer information and thought I saw a parrallel to the kind of analysis by reverse engineering that you suggested. Was part of what you hoped we'd get from that article?

-KMO