Social Networking in Game of Thrones

Recently, a group of Mathematicians who also happen to be huge fans of the popular HBO show Game of Thrones created a Social Network map of the characters in order to determine who the main character of the first book actually is. This is an amazing example of how Social Networking can be applied to almost anything including your favorite television show. The social network shows each characters interaction and actually calculates its PageRank Value and displays all of the information in a great graph.

The article actually goes in depth showing all of the math involved in producing its conclusions. This is extremely interesting to me as a fan of the series and seeing how what we are learning can be applied to almost anything. According to all of the math “Spoiler Alert” Tyrion is the main character according to their algorithms.

 

Social Networks in Game of Thrones

Can Game Theory Predict The President?

Colonel Blotto, a specific type of Game Theory, has many believing that you can actually predict the outcomes of things such as presidential elections, baseball games, or even a war.  Computer scientists have developed an algorithm that can solve this Colonel Blotto game. What this algorithm does is it asks for two players to distribute soldiers over a “battlefield” and randomly selects an area, and the player with more soldiers in that area wins.

The trick with this problem is to reduce things and scale it so it is applicable to real life. The algorithm has been tested and proved to be able to accurately predict how certain situations will play out and determine what needs to be improved upon to have a successful strategy. If this algorithm is applied to real life, it could be very useful for upcoming presidential campaigns. This “game” could show the nominees what they need to do to win the campaign, which area they need to focus on, and what they need to do to win the election. Of course, there are some issues with the algorithm in such that it cannot accurately account for random factors that may occur. This may allow to take a lot of the risk and guessing out of the equation when it comes to events. Imagine living in a world where you know if your sports team is going to win the game before the game even starts. What would even be the point of watching the game?

 

Link for the article: http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/12/game-theory-algorithm/

Can game theory explain the Greek debt crisis?

During the summer of 2015, Greece was affected by a terrible economic situation. Greece was in the middle of a, (almost)  default and running on fumes. The Greek finance minister (Yanis Varoufakis) is an expert on game theory and this is what he applied when making decisions about Greece’s economic situation. He had to make a decision, either offer a three point plan, or let Greece fall into a default. This is not an easy choice for anyone to make, as there are a lot of possible outcomes and failures that could come with this decision. So, he weighed his choices and decided how to play the “game” that is planning his strategy.

The eurozone could either accept his plan or reject it, which would lead to a series of payoffs. Yanis wagered his bets on the fact that the eurozone would HAVE to accept the deal because game theory suggests that both players will use the strategy that provides the highest payoff, in this case, it was accepting the proposed deal. Ultimately, eurozone ended up accepting the plan and Yanis was correct in his predictions. Greece did not default and was able to pay back its debts. This shows that Game Theory can easily be applied to every realm of society and this is a very interesting interpretation of how Game Theory was applied when facing a financial crisis.

The whole article with diagrams that depict the choices of the minster can be found here:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33254857

Expanding Global Trade Networks

I thought this article was interesting it had to deal with the trading network between the United States and Asia. This ties into our discussion on networks in class in the sense that the trade deal that Obama is imposing would further connect the United States with China and other Trans-Pacific countries. The deal would both exchange goods and services, but also intellectual property and foreign investment. This is interesting as the network of ideas would be a lot larger and flow between a wider range of countries. According to the article, the competition from China accounted for 21 percent of United States employment loss and that number would only increase.

The one point in this article that I personally would like to see the most evidence for is “For the U.S to derive maximum benefit from its advances in technology intensive products, such as smartphones, U.S companies need strong global protection of intellectual property.” The reason I think this claim would be strengthened by evidence is because Apple is one of the most valued companies in the world and they have been relying on China for their manufacturing basically since they started. I am also skeptical as to what protecting intellectual property will do for the average American worker. I think that establishing a larger network between countries to share intellectual property would overall benefit all of the parties, as ideas can be improved upon by different minds and items can be perfected.

I also think that expanding global trade would be beneficial to all parties involved, and also help the United States countries who are producing goods domestically. According to the article “Blocking the TPP because of justified unhappiness over manufacturing’s lost glory would amount to refighting the last trade war” and I am not sure that fighting another trade war would be beneficial to the United States, and other developing countries.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/03/12/why-obamas-key-trade-deal-with-asia-would-actually-be-good-for-american-workers/