Walker Art Center

Big [B]Other HOW LATITUDES BECOME FORMS

February 17, 2003

bother, virgin, games

bother
after 15 days of running, is big becoming a bother for most of the neighbors?

virgin
from a newspaper cut-up i had from a few days ago. the rector of the virgen de guadalupe sanctuary in Mexico DF has signed a contract of exclusivity with a US mercadology company over the image rights of the mexican virgin. The virgin agent has signed with viotran until 2005. In the contract the agent assumes the obligation of giving a "bendición especial" [special blessing] - by him or by the archbishop - to every article to be merchandised... The basílica will receive in exchange 12.5 million us dollars, plus a 50% of all sales...

games
is it this way how they still make their politics? Or might Condoleeza Rice have brought some further enlightenment?

Here we go:
John von Neumann was arguably the most influential but least famous scientist in history... fundamental contributions to... game theory... the development of the atomic bomb... and interconinental ballistic missile.

... von Neumann told one of his pals, during a taxicab ride in London, that "real life consists of bluffing, of little tactics of deception, of asking yourself what is the other man going to think i mean to do. And that is what games are about in my theory."

Game theory is based on several assumptions: that the players are in conflict, that they must take action, that the results of the actions will determine which player wins according to definite rules, and that players are expected to always act "rationally" by choosing the strategy that will maximze their gain regardless of the consequence to others. These are the kind of rules... that attract economists, because they map onto the behaviour of observable phenomena like markets, arms races, cartels and traffic.

After wolrd war 2, [Hiroshima and so on...], von Neumann joined other mathematicians and economists to brainstorm game theory at a mundane building... near Santa Monica beach. The RAND Corporation was the first think tank, where intellectuals... thought about... the craft of thermonuclear war strategy. Because the arms race seemed to be closely related to the kind of bluff and counter bluff described by game theory, [i guess not so much for the 23 millions dead in the 149 wars held between 1945 and 1992, data after unicef], the new field became popular among the first nuclear war strategists. In 1950, Rand researchers came up with four fundamental elements of Morgenstern- and von Neumann-style games: Chicken, Stag Hunt, Deadlock and Prisoner´s Dilemma...

quoted from: Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs, 2002 [p:41], comments and italics by osfa

abducción, abducción, abducción!!!
[see, if you can, J. Martín Barbero]

Posted by osfavelados at February 17, 2003 03:00 PM
Comments

Qué fuerte lo de la Virgen de Guadalupe.
Aunque no es más que una consecuencia de lo que se ha venido haciendo con la venta de figuritas, reliquias,etc. Ahora, no respetar ya ni a la mismísima Virgen de Guadalupe. A ver si se entera Dios y corre a esos comerciantes con rayos y truenos hasta que se les atraganten los dólares.

Posted by: Teresa Delgado on February 17, 2003 03:30 PM

Are all these types used in games?

Posted by: Jeroen Goulooze on February 17, 2003 05:24 PM

About the Bother: I like to be forced to write every day. But maybe we shoud split the party in two: one day writing, one day reading (and commenting)

Posted by: Jeroen Goulooze on February 17, 2003 05:25 PM

i am no expert in game theory
but this are the names they gave to four basic games within their theory... tomorrow i can quote you their descriptions if you´d like.

best _ osfa

Posted by: osfa on February 17, 2003 06:46 PM

okay, I would like that...

Posted by: Jeroen Goulooze on February 18, 2003 04:07 AM
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