Tragedy of the Prisoners

At the risk of exposing my previous ignorance*, I'll mention that I finally got around to researching the definitions of a couple turns of phrase that I had long wondered about: the Prisoner's Dilemma and the Tragedy of the Commons.

I had no idea that the concepts were even related. But now I do. I feel so much smarter already!

I don't know if I've said this enough, but Wikipedia kicks ass. In my mind it is perhaps the purest expression of the raison d'être of the WorldWideWeb.

* Although I have now addressed this aspect of my ignorance, I have a hunch that I am still quite ignorant of many other things. I'm not necessarily ashamed of that ignorance however. Maybe a little embarrassed at times, perhaps needlessly so, but still, I value learning, and therefore wince upon remembering how many times I have forgone learning in order to, oh, play video games or daydream.

tags: Wikipedia