DISQUS

Unfortunately, politics is a zero-sum game, at least for the candidates, and that's the reason negative campaigns work. Want to debate about the proper role of government in our lives? Great - but it's not going to happen in a presidential campaign. As soon as one candidate or the other thinks they're slipping, all we hear about are pigs and Bill Ayers.

It would be nice to believe that an Obama presidency wouldn't be as bad as, say, Carter's. But he's Not the One. I know enough about Chicago politics to know this: Obama's just another a Chicago pol, backed by the machine, and any talk about reform is just to get him through the only really tough election he's ever had. His words may solund different and inspiring, but his policies are the same old stuff that's been peddled by politicians for at least the last 50 years.

Is McCain any better? I used to think so - now I'm not so sure. But real progress, true progress, isn't going to come from the government anyway. It's going to come from the people, the ones who get things done if they can only get their government out of the way. At least, that's what our founding fathers believed, and I'm still naïve enough to think they were right.

Interesting that you bring up Prisoner's Dilemma. One of the most effective strategies for PD is Tit-for-Tat - reciprocate cooperative behavior for cooperative behavior; punish non-cooperative behavior with non-cooperative behavior; measure for measure.

The problem with prisoner's dilemma is that it assumes two agents of equal power to reciprocate. I don't know how tit-for-tat scales to multiple agents, asymmetric power, or variable power.

Interesting that you bring up Prisoner's Dilemma. One of the most effective strategies for PD is Tit-for-Tat - reciprocate cooperative behavior for cooperative behavior; punish non-cooperative behavior with non-cooperative behavior; measure for measure.

The problem with prisoner's dilemma is that it assumes two agents of equal power to reciprocate. I don't know how tit-for-tat scales to multiple agents, asymmetric power, or variable power.

Note to self: research difference between plurality and majority.

Note to self: research difference between plurality and majority.

Dare I say "apples and oranges?"

The fact that Microsoft intentionally chose to launch the 360 in time for the holiday season despite its admitted knowledge that they couldn't come close to meeting the demand for the much-hyped product is far greater than any supply shortage Apple has perpetrated. Does Apple have supply shortages? Sure, sometimes.

But you didn't see the Nano hyped on a half-hour MTV program MONTHS before it was available to the public, did you? You didn't see Apple whipping up the frenzy on the newest iMac by running an ARG, did you?

Of course you didn't.

Apple has recognized its chronic undersupply problems and taken a major and controversial step to fix them. Microsoft, on the other hand, has tried to ignore its supply problems and taken major and controversial steps to exacerbate them.

I'm an XBox fan and an Apple fan, but I can tell when a supplier of one of my favorite gadgets has let me down.