Michael Shermer: The Doping Dilemma

Typical Scientific American article pandering to the little knowledge
their readers have. In particular,
cyclists discovered doping long before mathematicians developed game
theory. Speaking of which,
I recall their cover picture of the Atlanta "Project 96" bikes, the
only interest being their $50,000 value
proving the magazine's "American" title.

-ilan

Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* An alarming number of sports�baseball, football, track and
field, and especially cycling�have been shaken by doping scandals in
recent years.
* Among the many banned drugs in the cycling pharmacopoeia, the
most effective is recombinant erythropoietin (r-EPO), an artificial
hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells, thereby
delivering more oxygen to the muscles.
* Game theory highlights why it is rational for professional
cyclists to dope: the drugs are extremely effective as well as
difficult or impossible to detect; the payoffs for success are high;
and as more riders use them, a �clean� rider may become so
noncompetitive that he or she risks being cut from the team.
* The game theory analysis of cycling can readily be extended to
other sports. The results show quantitatively how governing bodies and
antidoping agencies can most effectively target efforts to clean up
their sports.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it at http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-doping-dilemma















J. Spaceman

On Apr 3, 3:15*am, Donald Munro wrote:
Jason Spaceman wrote:
* * * Game theory highlights why it is rational for professional
cyclists to dope:

Lemond invented game theory after he finished with Finite Element
Analysis. Or was it Franklin ?

If you get the chance to hear Greg give a Symposium on
Surface and volume meshing algorithms or Anisotropic
mesh generation and adaptation jump at the opportunity !

On Apr 3, 4:04 pm, wrote:

Perhaps Shermer knows something about game theory, but it doesn't show
in that particular article.

Isn't "game theory" just a euphemism for "thinking **** through."

Hmmm. I'd sort of say that math is the field of thinking **** through.
Nonetheless, in that particular article Shermer showed himself to be
neither a game theorist nor a mathematician.

On Thu, 3 Apr 2008 18:24:12 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Apr 3, 4:04 pm, wrote:

Perhaps Shermer knows something about game theory, but it doesn't show
in that particular article.

Isn't "game theory" just a euphemism for "thinking **** through."

Hmmm. I'd sort of say that math is the field of thinking **** through.
Nonetheless, in that particular article Shermer showed himself to be
neither a game theorist nor a mathematician.

I thought math was a language with a grammar for thinking **** through.

Shermer didn't think **** through.

On Apr 3, 6:24*pm, wrote:
On Apr 3, 4:04 pm, wrote:

Perhaps Shermer knows something about game theory, but it doesn't show
in that particular article.

Isn't "game theory" just a euphemism for "thinking **** through."

I'd sort of say that math is the field of thinking **** through.

The meaning of the word is is: ________________.

On Apr 3, 6:14*pm, wrote:
...
[C]yclists discovered doping long before mathematicians
developed game theory.

http://pf.fastcompany.com/magazine/91/debunk.html