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Description

Pod Paper Scissors considers the glitches in our society due to the hidden games in everyday human interactions. Each week, hosts Ben Klemens and Liz Landau discuss a different topic relating to social interaction including markets, politics, trends, and other core facets of our society, in a causal conversation format with original songs and interviews with knowledgeable guests.

Podcast episodes

Check latest episodes from Pod Paper Scissors podcast

The Centipede Made Me Do It

2021/09/02

When your interaction with another person has an end date, like moving out of a shared apartment, do you still do the dishes? In this episode we talk about repeated prisoner's dilemmas when and end is in sight, and how things fall apart.

Who does the dishes?

2021/07/12

The real world is full of "repeated prisoners' dilemmas" in which we face the same situations over and over with the same people. In this episode we discuss the optimal solutions, going all the way back to a contest that required people to mail in computer code.

Home Buyin' Blues

2021/06/02

Buying a house isn't as straightforward as offering a price. Contracts are malleable, and buyer and seller are also negotiating who will bear the risks. Learn how game theory underlies this process.

The Bidding Bug

2021/05/08

We discuss a different kind of auction: the second price auction. It resolves many of the problems of the usual auctions, but the game is played a little differently.

Pants on Sale

2021/04/09

Sometimes winners feel like losers. In this episode we talk about auctions, including the concept of the winner's curse and Memorial Day sales.

I Want What You Want

2021/03/20

Why does money have value? Why did every child want a Furby for one holiday season? On this episode, we explore how people's preferences are shaped by what they think other people want.

A Ticket to the Eiffel Tower

2021/02/10

Journalist and author Elizabeth Becker is our guest as we contemplate how to use game theory to think about travel.

It's Getting Crowded

2021/01/31

In the Before Times (and in the Future Times), there were a lot of different kinds of travel experiences you could choose, and the ones you went for might have said a lot about your "crowding type." Plus, listen to our new shanty "Tweedom by the Sea."

Why Should Anyone Be Nice?

2021/01/04

After a musical interlude about data loss, we invite Kevin Zollman back to discuss evolutionary game theory and delve into the origins of altruism.

Sending Out a Signal

2020/12/03

We all send signals to other people to present ourselves in certain ways -- the clothes we wear, the drinks we order, the concert seats we book (in pre-COVID times). Animals do it too. Learn how game theory can help us understand how humans and animals communicate in this episode, the first of a two-part series about evolutionary game theory.

Parenting Tips From Game Theory

2020/11/14

Parents are having a tough time in the COVID-19 era. But you can use the tools of game theory to negotiate with your kids and work toward peace in your household. Kevin Zollman from Carnegie Mellon University is our guest.

Mixed Feelings, Mixed Strategies

2020/09/29

If it rains on your picnic but you knew there was a 10% chance of showers, should you regret your decision to eat outside? Let's explore what it means to regret when you made a decision based on information available at the time.