{"id":42,"date":"2008-11-10T17:28:49","date_gmt":"2008-11-10T17:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/magazines\/vanderbilt-business\/?p=42"},"modified":"2015-07-29T14:03:46","modified_gmt":"2015-07-29T14:03:46","slug":"fun-and-game-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/fun-and-game-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun and Game Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_9028\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9028\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.owen.prd.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2008\/11\/MikeShor.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-9028\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.owen.prd.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2008\/11\/MikeShor.jpg\" alt=\"Mike Shor\" width=\"210\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.vanderbilt.edu\/t2-main\/blogsowen-prd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2008\/11\/MikeShor.jpg 350w, https:\/\/cdn.vanderbilt.edu\/t2-main\/blogsowen-prd\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2008\/11\/MikeShor-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9028\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shor was selected by the MBA Class of 2008 to receive the James A. Webb Excellence in Teaching Award.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You probably should think twice before watching a movie with Mike Shor, Assistant Professor of Management. That is, unless you don\u2019t mind getting nudged every time an example of game theory pops up. Game theory is a method of using mathematical analysis to choose the best available strategy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t watch a movie without thinking through the incentives that somebody is creating for others. It drives my wife crazy,\u201d laughs Shor.<\/p>\n<p>Take, for instance, <em>The Princess Bride<\/em>. Shor points to the scene in which the hero Westley and kidnapper Vizzini match wits over a poisoned glass of wine: \u201cIt\u2019s so much more profound than people realize. People think it\u2019s a cute little bit, when it\u2019s really the most excellent example of what Robert Aumann won the Nobel Prize for, which was clarifying this notion of common knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The grumblings of his wife aside, Shor\u2019s ability to discern game theoretic themes in the unlikeliest of places is a boon for others interested in the field. He\u2019s amassed an impressive collection of pop culture references and other educational resources at his Web site www.gametheory.net.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI see game theory in way too many places, but I try to bring a lot of that to the classroom so that students can appreciate it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You probably should think twice before watching a movie with Mike Shor, Assistant Professor of Management. That is, unless you don\u2019t mind getting nudged every time an example of game theory pops up. Game theory is a method of using mathematical analysis to choose the best available strategy. \u201cI can\u2019t watch a movie without thinking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":9031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,10],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-departments","category-faculty-in-focus","tag-fall2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9030,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions\/9030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}