Inadequate Equilibria Quotes

“So far, every time I’ve asked you why someone is acting insane, you’ve claimed that it’s secretly a sane response to someone else acting insane. Where does this process bottom out?”
― Eliezer Yudkowsky, Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck

“modest people end up believing that they live in an inexploitable world because they’re trying to avoid acting like an arrogant kind of person.”
― Eliezer Yudkowsky, Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck

“Usually, when things suck, it’s because they suck in a way that’s a Nash equilibrium.”
― Eliezer Yudkowsky, Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck

“Every possible dysfunction is competing against every other possible dysfunction to explain the observed data. Sloppy cynicism will usually be wrong, just like your Facebook acquaintances who attribute civilizational dysfunctions to giant malevolent conspiracies.”
― Eliezer Yudkowsky, Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck

“It's hard to beat signaling equilibria - because they're 'multi-factor markets' - which are special cases of coordination problems that create 'inferior Nash equilibria' - which are so stuck in place that market controllers can seek rent on the value generated by captive participants.”
― Eliezer Yudkowsky, Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck