War and Peace
Just within 2 weeks of listening to one Nobel Laureate, I had the good fortune of listening to another - Prof Robert Aumann at IISc at a conference jointly organised by IISc, IBM and IIMB. Prof Aumann was born in Frankfurt in 1930, completed his PhD in Mathematics from MIT and got the nobel prize in 1905 for his contribution to Game Theory.
A team of about 15 people including Professors, Research Fellows and students from IIMB made it to IISc. The gathering consisted of elite group of scientists, thinkers, academicians, business leaders listening to a Wise Man.
Prof Aumann enthralled us with his views on suicide bombing, altruism, pragmatism, ideology and game engineering. For the benefit pf the audience, he defined the basic assumption of all players in Game Theory as rational beings -"A person's behaviour is RATIONAL if to the best of his knowledge, it promotes HIS goals." Hence, war is rational and Prof Aumann even extended this to suicide bombers whom he considered rational beings. They are pursuing a certain goal for ideological reasons - sacrificing themselves for the interests of the people. The goal may appear irrational or selfish to us. He reiterated that "Whole world is selfish". Accordingly, suicide bombers are channeling their selfish motives for their community.
He stressed on the fact that freedom is important with respect to free expression of ideas even though they might be repugnant. He brought out the example of "Holocaust denial" movement which denies of any wrong doing during the World War 2. Freedom according to him can only be limited by the constraints of other people. So, does that mean that Governments are not required in a free society ? He quoted Talmud "Pray for the welfare of the government for without its authority, man would swallow man."
He said that Economics is all about incentives. So, an economic analysis of War would reveal the incentives that lead it in the first place. Later during the q&a session people barged him with questions on America's incentive over Iraq war. He maintained that every GT problem must be understood in the context of the situation. He admitted that he did not know the Iraq situation in details to comment upon the same.
A team of about 15 people including Professors, Research Fellows and students from IIMB made it to IISc. The gathering consisted of elite group of scientists, thinkers, academicians, business leaders listening to a Wise Man.
Prof Aumann enthralled us with his views on suicide bombing, altruism, pragmatism, ideology and game engineering. For the benefit pf the audience, he defined the basic assumption of all players in Game Theory as rational beings -"A person's behaviour is RATIONAL if to the best of his knowledge, it promotes HIS goals." Hence, war is rational and Prof Aumann even extended this to suicide bombers whom he considered rational beings. They are pursuing a certain goal for ideological reasons - sacrificing themselves for the interests of the people. The goal may appear irrational or selfish to us. He reiterated that "Whole world is selfish". Accordingly, suicide bombers are channeling their selfish motives for their community.
He stressed on the fact that freedom is important with respect to free expression of ideas even though they might be repugnant. He brought out the example of "Holocaust denial" movement which denies of any wrong doing during the World War 2. Freedom according to him can only be limited by the constraints of other people. So, does that mean that Governments are not required in a free society ? He quoted Talmud "Pray for the welfare of the government for without its authority, man would swallow man."
He said that Economics is all about incentives. So, an economic analysis of War would reveal the incentives that lead it in the first place. Later during the q&a session people barged him with questions on America's incentive over Iraq war. He maintained that every GT problem must be understood in the context of the situation. He admitted that he did not know the Iraq situation in details to comment upon the same.
A Game is an interactive situation. So, what determines cooperative or non-cooperative outcome? How do we connect altrusim, cooperation, trust, loyalty? He reasoned that "Repeated games enable cooperation." He proved this theoretically for which he was awarded the Nobel. It might seem rather obvious but on hindsight it has deeper implications.
He said that one is too obsessed with the present, then there is less chance of getting a cooperative outcome. When the present is too important, then the structure of repeated games may breakdown. Hence, he advised not to be too eager as it destroys the fabric that enables cooperative outcome. Can we apply the idea of repeated games to India-Pakistan debate on Kashmir?
He said that one is too obsessed with the present, then there is less chance of getting a cooperative outcome. When the present is too important, then the structure of repeated games may breakdown. Hence, he advised not to be too eager as it destroys the fabric that enables cooperative outcome. Can we apply the idea of repeated games to India-Pakistan debate on Kashmir?
He explained the "Knot Theory" and diagrammatically showed that when 3 closed-loop ropes are so knotted such that one goes alternatively over and under the other, then they will never come apart. He sent the audience to peals of laughter when he said that all relationships can be knotted together as long as one goes over and under alternatively.
Prof Aumann awed us with his simplicity of expression, his humour and humility - the noble traits of a Wise Man.
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