pynchon's view on moralism

[prozak at anus.com]

Game Theory was developed by the great mathematician John von Neumann 
(1903-1957) [3]. To von Neumann, the Prisoner's Dilemma was a paradox 
that all but destroyed what he hoped Game Theory would accomplish: 
there did not seem to be a strategy that would benefit both parties 
to the extent that they would not want to betray each other. Instead, 
it seems that the best strategy for a player is to continually devise 
a way to sucker an opponent into Keeping Faith while being Betrayed. 
A familiar example of this is the famous recurring piece in the comic 
strip "Peanuts," where Lucy over and over fools Charlie Brown into 
trying to kick the football she holds, even though every single time 
she pulls the ball away and he falls painfully on his back. The 
benefit for both them of getting the football kicked is obviously 
less than the benefit Lucy enjoys at Charlie Brown's humiliation. 
Lucy has a very large score, while Charlie Brown still has zero [4]. 

Public Choice theory gives rise to a serious Prisoner's Dilemma. The 
largest benefits with the least effort come from political rent-
seeking, and those who fail to participate in the political process 
will have their wealth drained way with no corresponding return. Even 
if it is obvious to all that not everyone can live off of the wealth 
of everyone else (1,1), and that the best mutually beneficial course 
is for everyone to give up political rent-seeking (3,3), it is 
obvious that the best course for each individual group is to get 
everyone else to give up rent-seeking while they alone covertly 
continue to collect their monopoly rents (5,0). The fear that others 
will pursue such a strategy is easily sufficient motivation not to 
give up rent-seeking. No one, of course, blatantly advertises their 
rent-seeking in terms of their own self-interest. Instead, there are 
always high sounding, moralistic slogans and rationalizations, 
arguments that special benefits are necessary because of poverty, 
compassion, discrimination, racism, the environment, greedy insurance 
companies, greedy businessmen, etc. 

http://www.friesian.com/rent.htm

-- 
Backup Rider of the Apocalypse
www.anus.com/metal/
DEATH AND BLACK METAL