Thanks for sharing, Jim... One of the things I've been dreaming of, is to get into ESO (European Southern Observatory) when I retire and do ... things ... on an amateur/non-paid basis. It's cca 3 miles from where I live, you bike over, do your watch (you know, like "do the next 8 hours of exposure and check mail now and then"...)
Oderint dum metuant ... had a course (Ideas management or something of this sort). At the end we had a game: the teacher made us into four groups and what every group was supposed to do for one round, is decide whether to say X or Y. Here's the pay-out matrix:
4Y: all lose 10
1X, 3Y: X lose 300, Y win 100
2X, 2Y: X lose 200, Y win 200
3X, 1Y: X lose 100, Y win 300
4X: all win 10
Eventually, after cca 15 rounds, we all voted Y - lose-lose situation - although, to anybody with any grain of salt in his or her melon, 4X was the winning strategy. BUT, you would need to trust others... There were meetings after X rounds (5, 8 if I remember right) to talk about some common strategy ("4X, guys, come on, what else!?") But it did not help - like, people do cheat (ng). Or, let's not be judgemental - they change their minds.
The course leader made us feel better after the initial shock: he told us , that's how it always (ALWAYS) ended. |
