[ExI] Survival

[Jef Allbright]

On 1/4/08, Vladimir Nesov <robotact at gmail.com> wrote:

> > > >Y'all are weird. What would I prefer?
> > >
> > > The sauerkraut.
> >
> > While that may be reasonable, it's less certain than choosing between
> > chocolate and vanilla.
> >
> > The "secret" of games like this is that the required output is only 1
> > bit of information, while the input consists of a much greater number
> > of bits of loosely correlated (but not independent) information,
> > matching against vastly more bits of "experience" within an observer
> > system that has practiced "getting out of the way" of the assessment.

I don't have that data, but consider the effectiveness of
"cold-reading", or performers such as Kreskin or Derren Brown
(acknowledging that they also use manipulation, trickery, and
selection of positive results) or the success of professional poker
players.

A similar 1-bit "trick" is guessing the actual gender of the agent
behind avatars in second life.  I kept doing it with regard to
Lizbeth's SL friends and she would verify and be amazed.  Now she's
doing it reliably.  Granted there's much higher correlation in this
case, between gender and elements of textual expression, but this also
means you can do it faster.

- Jef