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Showing posts with label Video games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Video games. Show all posts

Sunday, May 7, 2023

Eric Crampton: Subsidy Games


In 1983’s classic film War Games, computer-whiz Matthew Broderick hacked into Pentagon supercomputer WOPR - almost starting World War 3.

WOPR had been programmed for war gaming. After playing with Broderick, WOPR decided that it could, and should, win a game of Thermonuclear War against the Soviet Union.

As WOPR was about to launch America’s nukes, Broderick told it to play tic-tac-toe against itself. It learned that some games cannot be won. The only winning move is not to play.