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John Nash Has Died

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Re: John Nash Has Died

#51

Post by protomyth »

tomjen3 wrote: post #42
protomyth wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, a lot of people subscribe to the mantra "never let a crisis go to waste". I miss the quite contemplation of the dead and then a thoughtful analysis of if we have a problem and what we can do to solve it. I guess that's long gone or only alive in niche areas. rest in peace troubled brilliance

As much as I hate to argue against thoughtful analysis, sometimes never letting a good crisis go to waste can radically improve chances that others don't die - and at that point I can live with not giving sufficient respect to the death.

I guess I've only seen half-baked solutions come out of crisis thinking. Also, there seems to be a tendency for some parties to put their little "pet project" into effect after a crisis. Since I just traveled, I would suggest the TSA as one of the prime examples of the way the road leads.

[edit: oh come on downvoters, tomjen3 is stating an opinion held by many and it kills any hope of discussion when someone gets downvoted into oblivion]

Re: John Nash Has Died

#52

Post by [deleted] »

cletus wrote: post #11

The culture around seatbelts in the US confounds me. As an Australian I've spent my entire life wearing seatbelts. It's second nature. I don't even think about it. Taxis or otherwise. In fact I think it's required in all cases. But in the US people seem to view the choice to turn a mild car accident into a severe or even fatal one as some kind of moral stance or personal freedom. Or rather any effort to require their…

[deleted]

Re: John Nash Has Died

#53

Post by sillygoose »

cletus wrote: post #11

The culture around seatbelts in the US confounds me. As an Australian I've spent my entire life wearing seatbelts. It's second nature. I don't even think about it. Taxis or otherwise. In fact I think it's required in all cases. But in the US people seem to view the choice to turn a mild car accident into a severe or even fatal one as some kind of moral stance or personal freedom. Or rather any effort to require their…

The state punishing people for not wearing seatbelts represents the idea that people need to be protected from themselves, by force.

If we go along that road, what's next? Should police officers be everywhere, ready to snatch a beer from an adult's hand if he seems to have had "too much" to drink already? What's too much? How do you know? The Nannier a state gets, the closer you are to complete tyranny.

Instead, we could just consider everyone personally responsible for their own choices.

- Didn't wear a seatbelt and got paralyzed in an accident? That's certainly tragic, but you're personally responsible for your choice to not wear a seatbelt.

- Didn't wear a seatbelt and nothing bad happened? Well good for you!

Re: John Nash Has Died

#54

Post by jedbrown »

kvcc01 wrote: post #24

Seeing Prof. Nash enjoying his walks on campus is one of my fondest memories from grad school. This is very sad. I was curious to learn more about his work a while ago and had looked up his PhD thesis. Here's a link: http://www.princeton.edu/mudd/news/faq/topics/Non-Cooperativ... . What struck me was that it only had 2 references to prior work! That's how you know you're doing innovative research.

I'd say that lack of references is more often a sign of ignorance than innovation. I see that every day; transformative work like John Nash's thesis only come along once in a while.

Re: John Nash Has Died

#55

Post by DanBC »

sillygoose wrote: post #53
cletus wrote: post #11

The culture around seatbelts in the US confounds me. As an Australian I've spent my entire life wearing seatbelts. It's second nature. I don't even think about it. Taxis or otherwise. In fact I think it's required in all cases. But in the US people seem to view the choice to turn a mild car accident into a severe or even fatal one as some kind of moral stance or personal freedom. Or rather any effort to require their…

The state punishing people for not wearing seatbelts represents the idea that people need to be protected from themselves, by force. If we go along that road, what's next? Should police officers be everywhere, ready to snatch a beer from an adult's hand if he seems to have had "too much" to drink already? What's too much? How do you know? The Nannier a state gets, the closer you are to complete tyranny. Instead, we c…

Seatbelts protect other passengers in the car.

People are terrible at assessing risk and they probably need a gentle legislative push for some things, like seatbelts.

Re: John Nash Has Died

#56

Post by plg »

I was once in a taxi in which the driver would snort cocaine when we stopped at a traffic light. Needless to say I got out and walked.

Another time I was in a taxi and the driver fell asleep on the highway. We were in stop and go traffic and after a long "stop" the traffic started moving but we did not. I noticed the driver sort of slumped over in his seat. I yelled "hello?" and he startled awake. Couldn't just get out and walk, we were on a highway in the middle of winter in Montreal.

Re: John Nash Has Died

#58

Post by sgift »

DanBC wrote: post #32
higherpurpose wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why I really like cars which make a sound if you don't have your seatbelt on. That way they don't give you the choice of not wearing the seatbelt and it's how it should be . This is why in such cases I strongly believe governments should force companies to enable something like that. The social norms are stupid and this would give you the excuse to ignore them without giving it a second thought (hey, the car i…

People just fasten the seat belt while they're not sitting in the seat then sit on the fastened belt.

Good. Now, we have an active act of non-compliance with an (hopefully? please?) existing law that forces you to buckle up. Let's start the fines with 1k and see if this helps, if not, go up. Not buckling up is so insane, I cannot even begin to imagine it ..

Re: John Nash Has Died

#59

Post by slowmovintarget »

DanBC wrote: post #46
cletus wrote: post #11

The culture around seatbelts in the US confounds me. As an Australian I've spent my entire life wearing seatbelts. It's second nature. I don't even think about it. Taxis or otherwise. In fact I think it's required in all cases. But in the US people seem to view the choice to turn a mild car accident into a severe or even fatal one as some kind of moral stance or personal freedom. Or rather any effort to require their…

It's useful to remember that while the extreme libetarian position is mostly American it's a minority position even in America. It overton windows the whole discussion, but most people who don't wear seatbelts are not "Free Men on the land" quoting Magna Carta. They're just not bothered.

I do not think the verbing of "Overton window" conveys the meaning you intend.

Did you mean, "it constrains itself to the Overton window?" Or, "it attempts to move the Overton window (up/down)?" Because saying it "overton windows" the discussion is meaningless.

Re: John Nash Has Died

#60

Post by higherpurpose »

DanBC wrote: post #32
higherpurpose wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why I really like cars which make a sound if you don't have your seatbelt on. That way they don't give you the choice of not wearing the seatbelt and it's how it should be . This is why in such cases I strongly believe governments should force companies to enable something like that. The social norms are stupid and this would give you the excuse to ignore them without giving it a second thought (hey, the car i…

People just fasten the seat belt while they're not sitting in the seat then sit on the fastened belt.

Well to me this seems like a passive solution that would convert most people who right now aren't using seatbelts to use them. Now, if some are trying to actively be stupid about it - I guess nothing in the world can prevent that.

The best the designers of products can do is "make them as safe as possible by default". There will always be people who actively work against those safety mechanisms though (like people turning off their ESP for that extra "sports-like" performance for their car - in urban traffic).

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