John Nash proved something counterintuitive in 1950 that took business about seventy years to not understand: rational players in a competitive game will reach a stable equilibrium, but stable and optimal are not synonyms. The equilibrium they reach depends entirely on what game they think they're playing. This matters for ecommerce in ways most operators haven't quite articulated yet. What Nash Actually Said The Nash Equilibrium is a state where no player can improve their o
War is, structurally, one of the most reliable economic engines ever devised. The fact that this makes people uncomfortable is not an argument against it. It's just evidence that we prefer our economics to be morally convenient.
