The game theory of cooperation • Explained simply
09.03.2026 06:17
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One of the most important insights of game theory is that cooperation is often rational. Indeed, it helps us understand why cooperation exists and how it works in practice.
www.optimallyirrational.com/p/the-game-t...
If morality is fundamentally a human affair, then game theory provides a framework that explains morality, argues @lionelpage.bsky.social in the latest instalment of his series on human morality:
buff.ly/X5QMJTi
Evolution is often framed as a cosmic struggle of all against all. Yet everything we observe about life is the product of cooperation. Understanding how cooperation is sustained is a key insight for thinking about how to organise society.
www.optimallyirrational.com/p/cooperatio...
Kant is notoriously hard to read. Here I explain his moral philosophy simply, and I criticise it, drawing on the careful thinking about rationality forged in game theory.
www.optimallyirrational.com/p/dekanting-...
The seizure makes no strategic sense for the US. It would be one of the biggest acts of geopolitical self-harm a US President has ever committed.
www.optimallyirrational.com/p/what-if-th...
"161. Lionel Page: Gossip — how Psychopaths Attack your Reputation"
Brad Carr Podcast @lionelpage.bsky.social
15 Jan 2026 [1:21:27]
#Cult
https://s.cultpodcasts.com/jvFO1WnJCEmzO2eax0JzTg
Earlier, @lionelpage.bsky.social argued against absolute moral truths. Here he explains how morality can be relative—operationalized as contractarianism—without being moral relativism, subjectivism, and a range of other -isms.
A veritable tour-de-force 👏:
buff.ly/uqbgcZa
Is morality relative to each society? This view is common in the public but unpopular among philosophers.
We can see morality as grounded in a society’s social contract--and thus relative--without the usual “anything goes” associated with "relativism".
www.optimallyirrational.com/p/is-moralit...
A key objection to ‘morality as a convention’ (rather than absolute truth) is that ‘anything goes’.
@lionelpage.bsky.social deftly counters this argument and shows why its method is flawed, and proposes respect for a social contract as a more robust explanation:
buff.ly/LJRPe0b
A defence of morality as respect for a social contract • The absence of absolute moral truths does not mean that "anything is permitted"
Very much this energy : m.youtube.com/watch?v=0mUb...
A defence of morality as respect for a social contract.
Moral, legal and ethical systems are conventions, but they are not arbitrary: they are constrained by the structure of conflict and cooperation in society.
www.optimallyirrational.com/p/a-defence-...
The report is worth reading by all academics in Australia and beyond who are concerned with the erosion of the academic nature of universities.
The origin of the problem is structural and requires placing academics back at the heart of universities' governance.
Universities worldwide are increasingly shaped by corporate, profit-driven logic. Australia is sadly ahead of the curve.
The Parliamentary inquiry report just released rightly points to the core problem: academics have been marginalised in governance.
www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...
Morality works without absolute moral truths • Replacing theories of the Good and the Right with a theory of the Seemly
Can morality still make sense if there are no absolute moral truths?
Almost 300 years ago, Hume said yes: moral systems are conventions that foster social cooperation, and our moral emotions are designed to help us navigate these conventions.
www.optimallyirrational.com/p/morality-w...
Sounds like me!
Would it occur to Elon Musk that Russia would also cheer for the US to break up into 50 “sovereign” independent states, while at the same time trying to forcibly reintegrate former states from the USSR which are now independent?
I actually like the AI pictures (there are 2) in my post. In both cases, I expressly asked for its characteristic features to illustrate a conceptual point. The result is similar to what I would have got hiring an illustrator.
Many secular philosophers still want “moral laws” to be objectively true. But to get there they have to smuggle an unconditional ought out of pure is.
In spite of its appeal, the idea that there are objective moral truths "out there" is misguided.
www.optimallyirrational.com/p/there-are-...
Thanks Yann, I hope you enjoy it!
End of year reading by David Spiegelhalter and @lionelpage.bsky.social. Very much looking forward to digging in!
What came first—the chicken or the egg? Never mind that—what came first, morality or religion?
@lionelpage.bsky.social challenges (if not debunks) the common assumption that religion was a prerequisite for morality. Game theory offers a far more plausible foundation:
buff.ly/ObDnxWi
Do we need religion for morality to make sense?
Thinking that religion is required for morality is getting things backwards. Our moral sense preceded religions and shaped their ideas about right and wrong.
www.optimallyirrational.com/p/no-religio...
The challenge of designing AI agents as helpers:
In the short term, we prefer positive feedback.
In the long term, we benefit from having harsh but fair feedback.
AI companies might make more money by following our preference for sycophancy rather than our long-term interest.
We have moral intuitions and emotions that help us play the game of morals well with others in order to go through the game of life seamlessly. www.optimallyirrational.com/p/morality-w...
Clickbait strategies backfire over time. Chasing quick clicks may build an audience, but clickbait erodes reputation in the long run. High-quality content may attract an audience more slowly, but it can outperform clickbait strategies over time.
www.optimallyirrational.com/p/what-are-w...
