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Georgie_Leech t1_iymj5ne wrote

Reply to comment by grateful-biped in How to solve moral problems with formal logic and probability by beforesunset1010

Worth noting that Game Theory is more about optimal actions/scenarios than being a predictive model for any given action.

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grateful-biped t1_iyoe71x wrote

You’re right but Game Theory didn’t have modest ambitions 40-60 years ago. It was going to guide our national foreign policy & change the world. It’s only been in the past 20+ years that it’s adherents admitted Game Theory had a small place in predicting behaviors by individuals & foreign governments.

“Optimal conditions” exist in the laboratory, not in reality. At best Game Theory provides us with options & approximate probabilities. Very approximate

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Georgie_Leech t1_iyoveb9 wrote

Your phrasing seems to be implying that Game Theory is a school of thought, as oppose to a branch of mathematics (one has adherents, the other doesn't). You also seem to be assuming a very limited frame of reference ("our national policy," "foreign governments") for an international field. Might you be confusing "Game Theory as a field is not designed as a predictive model for individual actions" with "certain governments believed Game Theory was something it wasn't?"

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