Comments | drjmaxwell: Where I teach game theory and piss people off

drjmaxwell

Where I teach game theory and piss people off

Apr 20, 2010 22:36

I thought of a great way of teaching game-theoretic equilibria today. The scenario is emo internet people.

Let's say you have a friend who leaves an entry that's like, "A Final Note: It's the end of the road for me. Everything has sucked so much I can't carry on." with tags of sigh;bitching;handgun_in_mouth

Now, you as an individual have to assess ( Read more... )

Comments 31

0nm10wn2feet April 21 2010, 04:56:31 UTC

Wow, remind me to NEVER post anything emo on my LJ with you around!!! LOL!

Srsly, though, what brought this on? Forgive me for being nosy, but I can't help but think that someone has pulled this one and this is your off-hand way of venting about it? I hope not, but the world is becoming stranger by the day for me, hence the speculation.
:?
~~me~~

drjmaxwell April 21 2010, 05:00:29 UTC

This has cropped up a few times with a few different people, one very recently. I don't consider it off-hand. I consider it a well-deserved pimp slap. However, since most of these things go up under f-lock, clearly it would just be unambiguously harmful to out the violators on this public post.

It's definitely not you, though.

Ever hear from Nicole? I poked you about her earlier, but I got no response.

0nm10wn2feet April 21 2010, 05:38:17 UTC

I'm so sorry about that... I remember the poke and have no idea how it got buried in the inbox from hell!! Anyway, I heard from her in December. I beta-ed and posted a couple things that she'd written and then she disappeared again. She's got my cell number and can text if she wishes, but nothing in the past few months. I should nudge her just to see what's going on, huh? (some pal *I* am, right ( ... )

drjmaxwell April 21 2010, 05:41:46 UTC

Whining is a perfectly good and probably healthy use for LJ. There's just a line. If you phrase things such that it sounds like you're within 30 minutes of taking your own life, you should expect (or hope) that your friends go to high alert.

cyperian April 21 2010, 05:02:03 UTC

Wow, this is really awesome and clarifies for me what I'm going to do in the future. I've always seen this as such a difficult choice, but when it comes down to it why take the risk that it's not real only to be wrong? There is no benefit to that.

(The comment has been removed)

drjmaxwell April 21 2010, 16:34:34 UTC

Haven't heard that term in years .

frameofmind6 April 21 2010, 05:57:37 UTC

(*hides gun under the desk and looks sheepish*) Aww -- you upstaged my big post! Guess I'll have to think of something else to post tomorrow. What do you think of, "Holy crap, there's a Bengal tiger in my apartment!!!"?

Here's sincerely hoping that all your emo friends fall into the "not suicidal" category. ;)

drjmaxwell April 21 2010, 16:34:17 UTC

Fortunately, being emo correlates well with a total lack of balls, so none of them will go through with it. They'll be fine, unless there's some kind of eyeliner shortage.

aiffe April 21 2010, 06:45:44 UTC

I wouldn't call the cops, because I know if it were me, it'd just make things worse. Cops tend to make me crazy and sad. Not really what I need if I'm already, well, y'know, crazy and sad enough that I'm contemplating a long walk off a short roof.

Besides the fact that I think that if a person really wants to die, nothing can stop them. They can suck bullets five seconds after hitting "post," and the cops aren't going to get there in time to save them.

From a book of mine:

To give you some idea, over the past two centuries people have committed suicide by jumping into volcanoes, vats of beer, crocks of vinegar, retorts of molten glass, white-hot coke ovens, or slaughterhouse tanks of blood; by throwing themselves upon buzz saws; by thrusting hot pokers down their throats; by suffocating in refrigerators or chimneys; by locking themselves into high-altitude test chambers; by crashing airplanes; by jumping from airplanes; by lying in front of steamrollers, by throwing themselves into the third [high voltage] rail; by touching high- ( ... )

drjmaxwell April 21 2010, 06:49:03 UTC

Just say in the suicide note that you're off to kill yourself and you don't want anyone to intervene. Otherwise, the prevailing theory says we have to take it as a "cry for help".

And yes, I'll believe that you don't want help.

aiffe April 21 2010, 06:53:58 UTC

I'll keep that in mind. And I do appreciate that you would respect a clearly-stated boundary like that. :)

What if I just post about suicidal ideation but don't consider it a promise or a plan or anything like that? Like, "My sadness stretches out endlessly like the sea; I long to swim and swim out into that vastness, and fill my lungs with saltwater as I sink." Or, "I was reading about the parents of suicides lately. I wonder how my mom would take it if I offed myself?"

See, I consider a suicide note to be more like, "I cannot bear living in this world anymore. By the time you see this, I will most likely be dead. Thank you all for your friendship."

drjmaxwell April 21 2010, 16:27:47 UTC

You roll the dice whenever you make any post like that, because every reader has to play the game I described in my post. In other words, you're at the mercy of the person most likely to take it as suicidal.

Suicidal ideation would be ignored. 2+ instances of suicidal ideation followed by something that implies intent to harm yourself if nobody stops you might elicit a response. Depends on all the factors I mentioned.

If you want to do it right, start your suicidal post with, "If you're reading this, I am already dead."

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