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<\/a><\/p>\nEarlier this week, I used an essay I had written about shame<\/a> to talk about some of the ways that Christian metaphysics seem to match my ethics<\/a> (part of a series of posts inspired by Chesterton<\/a>). \u00a0I\u2019m going to respond to a few of the questions on the most recent post, but it seems like interest\/confusion is petering out. \u00a0If you have a question on those topics I haven\u2019t answered, pleas comment this weekend, so I get the chance to respond.<\/p>\n Ok, so this is just totally bizarre. \u00a0There exists a\u00a0paper in the academic journal\u00a0<\/a>Economics of Governance<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0which has the following abstract:<\/p>\n \u201cThis paper tries to explain the Catholic dogma of papal infallibility as a rational choice that virtually forecloses future doctrinal change and thereby triggers the adoption of more loyal behavior by church members. The paper employs a model of a dynamic game with incomplete information, called the Reform game, and shows that under some conditions, closing the game and credibly pre-committing to a single strategy through the dogma may be a superior choice for the Church. Then it is shown that the model fits well the historical circumstances of the enactment of the dogma. Finally, an analogy of the dogma with the scriptural literalism of fundamentalist religious groups is suggested.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I have no words.<\/p>\n Actually, what it reminds me of is the time I read a game theory-based paper for my Civil War and Terrorism class in which the author (an economist) explained that suicide bombers could not exist because\u00a0suicide\u00a0bombing was an irrational choice for a utility maximizer.<\/p>\n When people misuse the tools of my discipline (political science) it upsets me\u00a0alot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n No, not a typo. \u00a0Hyperbole and a Half<\/a>\u00a0(linked in my\u00a0miscellaneous\u00a0blogroll at right)\u00a0introduced me to this gentle beast that is better than you at everything<\/a>. \u00a0So maybe now you\u2019ll understand why I like\u00a0these craft projects alot<\/a>.<\/p>\n Let me add, in defense of my discipline, that game theoretic analyses can be extremely useful. \u00a0It\u2019s just a matter of determining an appropriate application. \u00a0Like this:<\/p>\n P.S. The series I\u2019m returning to, if it turns out that Chesterton is played out, is my defense of covenant marriage. \u00a0Should be good prep for the debate the Yale Political Union will probably have later this semester on no-fault divorce.<\/p>\n I\u00a0haven\u2019t blogged about it yet, but I\u2019ve been reading through the Bible as part of the project Bruce organized over at\u00a0The King and I<\/a>. \u00a0A bunch of people from different religious backgrounds are all reading through the King James Bible in a year, and he sets up comment threads for the daily block of chapters. \u00a0It\u2019s a lot more interesting than looking through on my own, but is still a little baffling. \u00a0If you\u2019re interested, or you\u2019d like to be a data resource for atheists like me, check it out.<\/p>\n Or, if the challenge sounds interesting, but you just don\u2019t have time to commit to reading the Bible, \u00a0might I suggest the Brick Testament<\/a>?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-huckjsEoJAc\/TV428OpQzFI\/AAAAAAAABRg\/XKCI_lU0Oe8\/s320\/ALOT.png\")
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<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n No Logos<\/em>, just legos.<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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