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Conflicting Conclusions and therefore Conflict of Interest

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4 hours ago, EC said:

This isn't necessarily true as a counter-example of poker tourneys immediately came to mind. If bad players couldn't go on heater's in these and win it all these would quickly dry up and nearly cease to exist. Game theory-wise short-term variance only converges to actual EV as the sample-size gets large.

Can you be more specific about this? I don't think I really follow. I will say that it's a more derivative question, because this gets closer towards fringe cases that are probably solvable by using multiple principles across multiple fields. I was thinking of the standard tournament where there is first place and not really a great deal of variation in how the players compete after they lose. 

I think you meant to say heats, in which case I would argue that there is a "meta-game" about how to allocate wins and losses, but that the ultimate aim is still to in some way be the best poker player. Or if there is another rational aim, then whoever is the best candidate should get those spoils. 

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12 hours ago, whYNOT said:

Ha, the fallacy of zero sum!

I was reminded of the clever tagline by Avis: We Try Harder (because we are No. 2) apropos Rand's "Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal". **

Amazing that people cannot visibly see there's no zero-sum, winner/loser, survival of the fittest, dog eat dog, even in a reasonably free market (stressing free). The stigma over "ruthless, capitalist competition" hasn't gone away despite the evident successes of many entrants into the same industry.

One can count about ten car hire companies at an airport to prove the point. Everybody can do well. Creative minds and productive work are No. 1.

** Hertz eventually went into bankruptcy last year I notice.

Agreed.

Moreover, even if one could find an example of zero sum restricted to some specific field of competition, it would be of no consequence.

 

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