Comment Here's what this is *really* about (Score 5, Informative) 173
As a recent alum (2002), I can shed some light on some things.
Why is this in the Deparment of Humanities and Social Sciences?
From the URL, this Tournament is being run by the Social Sciences Experimental Laboratory (SSEL), not the CS department. The SSEL has been one of the leaders in experimental economics research (read: actually testing all those crazy theories you hear in economics classes).
Why is there money involved?
All experiments by the SSEL involve money. As an undergraduate, I participated in many experiments, mostly involving trading "commodities" in simple (and sometimes not-so-simple) markets. We were paid based on our performance. If I had an off night, I got paid $5 for 2 hours of the experiment. If I had a good night, I could make upwards of $80. Yes folks, this is real money we're talking about here. Since the point is to test people's economic thinking, you must make your decisions based on a real outcome, otherwise the data gathered is invalid.
Why then are they doing this test?
I don't work for the SSEL (and never have), but here's why I think they're doing this: Since they're interested in not only individual human behavior, but also how individuals interact and make choices based on the actions of other individuals, it would be useful to design a computer program that mimics other human's behavior. If other humans think this program acts like a human, then you can do two things: you can take the specifications of the computer program and figure out what qualities of the program humans have. As well, you can then replace humans with the computer program in real experiments (this not only allows you to test the limits of the program, but also to save money :-) )
And as an alum (who was not too fond of his time there, but still feels compelled to defend Caltech), it's *Caltech*, not *Cal Tech* or *Cal-Tech* (but if you're feeling lazy, *caltech* is all right too).
nak
Why is this in the Deparment of Humanities and Social Sciences?
From the URL, this Tournament is being run by the Social Sciences Experimental Laboratory (SSEL), not the CS department. The SSEL has been one of the leaders in experimental economics research (read: actually testing all those crazy theories you hear in economics classes).
Why is there money involved?
All experiments by the SSEL involve money. As an undergraduate, I participated in many experiments, mostly involving trading "commodities" in simple (and sometimes not-so-simple) markets. We were paid based on our performance. If I had an off night, I got paid $5 for 2 hours of the experiment. If I had a good night, I could make upwards of $80. Yes folks, this is real money we're talking about here. Since the point is to test people's economic thinking, you must make your decisions based on a real outcome, otherwise the data gathered is invalid.
Why then are they doing this test?
I don't work for the SSEL (and never have), but here's why I think they're doing this: Since they're interested in not only individual human behavior, but also how individuals interact and make choices based on the actions of other individuals, it would be useful to design a computer program that mimics other human's behavior. If other humans think this program acts like a human, then you can do two things: you can take the specifications of the computer program and figure out what qualities of the program humans have. As well, you can then replace humans with the computer program in real experiments (this not only allows you to test the limits of the program, but also to save money
And as an alum (who was not too fond of his time there, but still feels compelled to defend Caltech), it's *Caltech*, not *Cal Tech* or *Cal-Tech* (but if you're feeling lazy, *caltech* is all right too).
nak
