hopeless hypokalemic

Matters of Love and Hyperbolic Discounting

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:08:49 +0800

If I ask which would you rather have: 100 pesos *now* or 500 pesos *after 6 months*, which pay-off would you choose? Research says that, given a similar situation, most people would take the former; people generally prefer smaller, earlier rewards to larger, later rewards. In behavioral economics this is called hyperbolic discounting, or how the future’s utility is ‘discounted’ in favor of a sooner prize. It’s an irrationality unlike the usual thinking of homo economicus.

Now I wonder how this figures in human relationships. If I am to translate hyperbolic discounting into its social equivalent then it would go this way: People should be going for the easy way into relationships, rather than wait for their one true love 15 years from now. It’s an irrationality that should have more proponents but, well, it simply is not that way.

People can wait.

As to why this is the case might be a personal inquiry. I can only say that maybe this is one example where to love is to be, truly, rational.

The path of love is never smooth,but mine’s continuous for...

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:05:00 +0800

The path of love is never smooth,
but mine’s continuous for you.
You’re the upper bound in the chains of my heart,
you’re my axiom of choice, you know it’s true.

Of Life's Tricky Buffet

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:56:00 +0800

Imagine waiting in line to a scrumputuous buffet table, catering the most wondrous meals in the world. It’s such an unusual buffet for you are to be given one hour to to choose a dish among all others; one meal from the table which will be the only one you could have for the rest of the evening. Of course, you’ll set out to pick the best of the lot but there’s a catch: You can only put one meal at a time on your plate, and not all meals will be available at all times; within an hour, some dishes might fade away in only a few minutes, or some in just a few seconds, staying to exist only when you choose it. Another catch: Once you tasted a meal and decide to choose another, you can never get that same dish again. Given this situation, how would you choose?

This is actually a problem decision theorists call as one of sequential search and optimal stopping, high-falutin’ ways to describe how we go about trying to find the best things for us, with ‘best’ understood as the that one choice that would make us happy or content over the longest period of time. This problem is obviously very prominent in real-life: choosing a career or finding your one true love are very glaring examples, for in choosing any of those, we are actually trying to decide how the rest of our lives would go. This is actually very difficult because choices in real-life are not necessarily laid out for us in one neat row of choices, ready to be picked. We have to contend with our own states of mind and with time itself, balancing the two factors with the usual requisites of optimal decision-making when finally making our choice.

The choices that we had when we were young will not be the same 25 years after because our own personal experiences will have changed us. Some choices which were at the fore when we were kids might have been placed on the back burner, or for some, completely eliminated. How many of us have actually pushed through with our dreams to be an adventurer, a magician, or a rock star? Also, have we experienced adding more options and stocking up on choices — let’s say scouting out all the tourist spots in one vacation site — only to find out that you’ll get only 20 minutes worth on the actual pick because we spent too much time increasing our options?

The puzzle actually is in determining when to keep searching, and when to stop. It should have been easy if each succeeding option is better than the previous one — because that means the more we spend time searching the higher the probability will get the “best one” in the end — but real life plays dice more often than not. We will never be too sure when we’re actually letting go of something special. How would we really know?

The only thing that I could think of right now is to try to commit and to choose more. We’d have to give it a try first before we can fully be sure what that choice is all about. If we are juggling so many options at one time, then that means lesser time being spent on each one, lowering the chance of getting to know about each choice better. Needless to say, we can’t place equal weight on each choice, and give equal chances to all. To be able to enjoy an experience further, we have to limit our experience to that choice, even only for a time.

The thing is, whether it’s about career or about love, how can we know if it will work if we don’t give it our all?

Decline. (via xkcd)

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:26:49 +0800

Decline. (via xkcd)

Schrodinger’s Blind Date.

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:34:25 +0800

Schrodinger’s Blind Date.

Love. Math.

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:49:50 +0800

Love. Math.

Ode to the Nice Guys

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:12:23 +0800

Ode to the Nice Guys:

*click on the title to see the article*

They say that girls go for the bad boys, an inexplicable paradox that still occurs to this day. Although how we define “bad boy” or “nice guy” would be subject to interpretation, there are certain broad imagery that I believe we would agree on.

What would be more interesting is the truth of this phenomenon and its workings. Is it mainstream media’s influence or is it the other way around (art imitating life)? Do these women “play dice” when choosing partners or is choosing a “bad guy” really the best option at that time? Do “nice guys” really finish last?

I’m really not in a position to know these things, but it’s something interesting to work on in the next couple of posts. For now, hail to you, neighborhood friendly guy.

***

By the way, the picture is from artless.bum of Flickr. Really good work there.

Oh and loosely translated:

Guy: “If only you knew…”

Girl: “If only you’d say it!”

***

(via kari-shma)

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:10:07 +0800

(via kari-shma)

Wedding Algorithm It’s just another one of those tests at...

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:16:04 +0800

Wedding Algorithm

It’s just another one of those tests at Facebook but it’s interesting how they came upon the answer. I’m guessing there are inverse variations (i.e. the higher it is, the lower the time until you get married) with age and “marriage experiences” or nuptials you’ve attended, but the others are not so clear-cut. For example, would falling in love the most number of times make you eligible or more improbable to get married?

IMHO, the number provided is a proxy for determining when you would *decide* to get married and not the actual date, but without the details of its function we won’t really be sure.

*Yeah, it was quite a blogging hiatus, but I’m back. Oh, and they say that I’ll get married in 4 years, imagine that. Click on the picture to take the test. If you have Facebook, that is.*

Men Seek Beauty, Women Want Power

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:42:00 +0800

Men Seek Beauty, Women Want Power:

*click on above link to see the article*

This might explain why there’s a dating adage (at least in western countries) that men should date women who are approximately: (age of man ÷ 2) + 7, while women should date men who are: (age of woman x 2) - 7; younger women have a higher probability of being more beautiful than their elders while older men have a higher chance of being more “stable” than their younger counterparts.

Which, in retrospect, does not absolve you of being a cradle-snatcher (if you’re a man) and a gold digger (if you’re a woman).

Go figure.

Photo

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:40:11 +0800

Twitter Love.

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:08:07 +0800

Twitter Love.

- Alex James

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:26:54 +0800

- Alex James

Ted and Stella’s Two-minute Date. (I’d like to pull...

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:48:00 +0800

Ted and Stella’s Two-minute Date.

(I’d like to pull *this* off one day.)

( I got this from Two and Half Men. Great show.)

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:54:00 +0800

( I got this from Two and Half Men. Great show.)

click on the photo to see the site Remember my post about this...

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:44:00 +0800

*click on the photo to see the site*

Remember my post about this guy’s search for the girl of his dreams? Proves this is a relatively uncommon thing, what with the above guy’s own crusade.

It seems he found her but has chosen to keep mum about what happened. Well congratulations still; at least you were given *the* chance.

(from sinfest) I kinda feel for the guy, you know, sometimes it...

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 10:10:00 +0800

(from sinfest)

I kinda feel for the guy, you know, sometimes it never does come out right.

(from basic instructions) I seem to remember doing the same...

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 07:22:00 +0800

(from basic instructions)

I seem to remember doing the same thing in high school, LOL.

(from basic instructions) Let’s just say that, in the...

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 07:18:00 +0800

(from basic instructions)

Let’s just say that, in the province of romance, the intersection of two previously disjoint sets grow in time.

stripes

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:22:00 +0800

(reblogged from fiftywords)

You, with your no-nonsense stripes, your hair pulled back, your little jewelry, your green eyes, your jelly-wearing French-tipped feet, your icy glances, your 7 jeans, yes you.

Me, Star Wars Forever t-shirt, buddy-holly-glasses-before-everyone-started-wearing-them, black chucks, Beetlejuice socks, Ryan Atwood wrist cuff, Nintendo Champion 1984 windbreaker, yes me.

You me?

If only most of us would have the courage to do this; but it wouldn’t hurt to try, right? Sometimes, you just don’t know.

I say, we gotta get some grit and go climb that tree.

hopeless hypokalemic

Matters of Love and Hyperbolic Discounting

The path of love is never smooth,but mine’s continuous for...

Of Life's Tricky Buffet

Decline. (via xkcd)

Schrodinger’s Blind Date.

Love. Math.

Ode to the Nice Guys

(via kari-shma)

Wedding Algorithm It’s just another one of those tests at...

Men Seek Beauty, Women Want Power

Photo

Twitter Love.

- Alex James

Ted and Stella’s Two-minute Date. (I’d like to pull...

( I got this from Two and Half Men. Great show.)

*click on the photo to see the site* Remember my post about this...

(from sinfest) I kinda feel for the guy, you know, sometimes it...

(from basic instructions) I seem to remember doing the same...

(from basic instructions) Let’s just say that, in the...

stripes

click on the photo to see the site Remember my post about this...