{"id":10181,"date":"2017-07-20T23:10:39","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T22:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bothersbar.co.uk\/?p=10181"},"modified":"2017-07-20T23:21:12","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T22:21:12","slug":"art-james-and-the-nash-equilibrium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bothersbar.co.uk\/?p=10181","title":{"rendered":"Art James and the Nash Equilibrium"},"content":{"rendered":"

No, not the latest winners of the Mercury Music Prize, this is kind of a follow up to the old The Price Is Right<\/strong> post recently.<\/a> I do recommend a look if you haven’t already, I promise it’s interesting.<\/p>\n

This afternoon I took part in another economic experiment, something that comes round every few months, and whilst I can’t go into it as it’s still ongoing and there’s an off chance it might prejudice someone else, I might return to it in a few weeks, it was quite thought provoking. It also strikes me that what Youtube is missing is an idiot’s guide to the games of game theory and their real life applications, kind of like this one I’ve started watching<\/a> but with more people talking to camera and visual gags. Somebody sort it, I’d be all over it.<\/p>\n

Getting back to the title, I discovered through some Youtube suggestions quite an interesting short-lived show in the US from the late 60s the other day called Temptation<\/strong>. It’s interesting because of the rather darker mise-en-scene than you’re probably used to from a show from this period. It’s interesting because host Art James smokes a cigar. It’s interesting because it’s got a spinning stage. And it’s interesting because frankly it wouldn’t surprise me if Endemol came up with something along these sorts of lines about ten years ago when game theory based gameshows were all the rage.<\/p>\n

Here’s how it works: Three contestants see three prizes on a stage – one of low value, one of medium value and one of high value. They each lock in which one they want, and if they’re the only person to pick it they win it. This is done five times with increasing stakes each round, in rounds three and four everyone votes then Art gives a hint as to who has picked what and the contestants get the opportunity to change their mind. In Round five if you’re the only person to win a prize you win all three, and as the person who has the accumulated the highest value of prizes gets to come back as champion that’s almost certainly enough.<\/p>\n

The video quality here isn’t great so be warned:<\/p>\n