Pretty good so far. I personally felt like the line-item example was pretty illuminative, but using real political examples instead of sticking with the national game theory month approach is a bit iffy. In particular the line
If Republicans are perfectly rational agents (a sentiment, I admit, open to doubt)
Can easily be interpreted as an attack on republicans.
but using real political examples instead of sticking with the national game theory month approach is a bit iffy
I actually thought it was better to have a real political example—made it feel less like an abstract toy example and more like something with actual real-world relevance.
Or better, adding “given that they are human” at the end of it. (OTOH, it’s not that implausible that in that context they would make the same choice that perfectly rational agents would.)
Pretty good so far. I personally felt like the line-item example was pretty illuminative, but using real political examples instead of sticking with the national game theory month approach is a bit iffy. In particular the line
Can easily be interpreted as an attack on republicans.
Removed.
I actually thought it was better to have a real political example—made it feel less like an abstract toy example and more like something with actual real-world relevance.
Agreed. Removing the parenthetical would strictly improve this in my mind
Or better, adding “given that they are human” at the end of it. (OTOH, it’s not that implausible that in that context they would make the same choice that perfectly rational agents would.)