113 | Cailin O'Connor on Game Theory, Evolution, and the Origins of Unfairness

113 | Cailin O'Connor on Game Theory, Evolution, and the Origins of Unfairness

You can't always get what you want, as a wise person once said. But we do try, even when someone else wants the same thing. Our lives as people, and the evolution of other animals over time, are shaped by competition for scarce resources of various kinds. Game theory provides a natural framework for understanding strategies and behaviors in these competitive settings, and thus provides a lens with which to analyze evolution and human behavior, up to and including why racial or gender groups are consistently discriminated against in society. Cailin O'Connor is the author or two recent books on these issues: Games in the Philosophy of Biology and The Origins of Unfairness: Social Categories and Cultural Evolution.

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Cailin O'Connor received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of California, Irvine. She is currently Associate Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science and a member of the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Science at UCI. Her works involves questions in the philosophy of biology and behavioral science, game theory, agent-based modeling, social epistemology, decision theory, rational choice, and the spread of misinformation.


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AMA | August 2024

AMA | August 2024

Welcome to the August 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patr...

5 Aug 20243h 37min

284 | Doris Tsao on How the Brain Turns Vision Into the World

284 | Doris Tsao on How the Brain Turns Vision Into the World

The human brain does a pretty amazing job of taking in a huge amount of data from multiple sensory modalities -- vision, hearing, smell, etc. -- and constructing a coherent picture of the world, const...

29 Juli 20241h 2min

283 | Daron Acemoglu on Technology, Inequality, and Power

283 | Daron Acemoglu on Technology, Inequality, and Power

Change is scary. But sometimes it can all work out for the best. There's no guarantee of that, however, even when the change in question involves the introduction of a powerful new technology. Today's...

22 Juli 20241h 17min

282 | Joel David Hamkins on Puzzles of Reality and Infinity

282 | Joel David Hamkins on Puzzles of Reality and Infinity

The philosophy of mathematics would be so much easier if it weren't for infinity. The concept seems natural, but taking it seriously opens the door to counterintuitive results. As mathematician and ph...

15 Juli 20241h 18min

Ask Me Anything | July 2024

Ask Me Anything | July 2024

Welcome to the July 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreo...

8 Juli 20243h 21min

281 | Samir Okasha on the Philosophy of Agency and Evolution

281 | Samir Okasha on the Philosophy of Agency and Evolution

Just like with physics, in biology it is perfectly possible to do most respectable work without thinking much about philosophy, but there are unmistakably foundational questions where philosophy becom...

1 Juli 20241h 11min

280 | François Chollet on Deep Learning and the Meaning of Intelligence

280 | François Chollet on Deep Learning and the Meaning of Intelligence

Which is more intelligent, ChatGPT or a 3-year old? Of course this depends on what we mean by "intelligence." A modern LLM is certainly able to answer all sorts of questions that require knowledge far...

24 Juni 20241h 41min

279 | Ellen Langer on Mindfulness and the Body

279 | Ellen Langer on Mindfulness and the Body

For those of us who are not dualists, the mind arises from our physical bodies -- mostly the brain, but the rest of the body has a role to play. And yet it remains tempting to treat the mind as a thin...

17 Juni 20241h 11min

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