prev math people aren't real | going to the literary dogs next
2002-08-01 | 9:40 a.m.

According to Shubik, game theory's math models pivot on a "math person" who is "personality-neutral and passionless," "individually rational" and "non-social," with "well-defined preferences and choice structures," and out of context.

Math people are "poor approximations" of real people, he offered carefully, albeit with a bigger vocabulary. Real people are complicated by "limited rationality" and "limited perception, habit, instinct and custom."

From Game Theory for Real People at Wired.

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I gotta get ready for my therapy appointment. I'm starting to dread going because he's decided that his role is to goad me into writing. Which is good, I guess, though it makes me feel a little one-dimensional. The big problem is that every time I go, I have to say, "well, no, not really," or "I wrote about half a page last Tuesday. I think. I'm pretty sure." I never get to say, Yes, I wrote every day this week! I want to be rational, and say things like, Do you really think it's healthy for me to put so much emphasis on this one part of my life? Shouldn't I be trying to unify all the disparate elements of my existence into a workable whole, instead of trying to plunge deeper into dysfunction?

When I'm really writing, it's like taking a deep breath and going under water. The whole time I'm writing seriously, I'm submerged. Everything else becomes meaningless. And I worry about staying under too long. Not because I can't hold my breath, but because I forget to do ordinary things, like feed my kids.

But I've also got to stop making excuses. My biggest problem is just making time to write and remembering to do it. I need to make some sort of talisman that will help me lock into writing mode, like Annie Lamott's one-inch picture frame. Something that will make me drool on schedule like the most Pavlovian of literary dogs.

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