We’re Optimizing Ourselves to Death
What happens when tech gives us more leisure time? We work.
pro·cel·er·a·tion
/prōˌseləˈrāSH(ə)n/
noun 1. The acceleration of acceleration
—excerpt from The Age of Earthquakes by Shannon Basar, Douglas Coupland, and Hans Ulrich Obrist
There’s a famous thought experiment in economics known as the “prisoner’s dilemma.” In it, two men have been caught committing a crime. Each of them is placed in a separate interrogation room and effectively has two options: confess or lie. There are three possible outcomes (the payoffs of which are illustrated in the payoff matrix below):
Outcome 1: Both confess, and both serve eight years in prison (illustrated by payoff “-8, -8” in Figure A).
Outcome 2: Both men lie, and both serve one year in prison (illustrated by payoff “-1, -1” in Figure A).
Outcome 3: One man confesses while the other lies. The liar serves the longest possible sentence, 10 years, while the confessor goes free (illustrated by payoff “-10, 0” in Figure A).
