[EM] Richard was right: The elections are 0-info.

Forest Simmons fsimmons at pcc.edu
Mon Jan 26 19:50:15 PST 2004


On Sun, 25 Jan 2004, MIKE OSSIPOFF wrote:

>
> When Richard said that the public elections are 0-info, I disagreed at the
> time, because we have polls, and voting results. But the polls are mostly
> the ones presented by the mass media. And the voting results are Plurality
> results. Plurality does a magnificently efficient job of concealing what
> voters want.
>
> So, with those as our information sources, what we have is 0-info.
>
> Of course if there's a poll done & reported by people whom you trust, that's
> different. And if the time ever comes when the elections are by Approval or
> wv--or SMA, NES, DSV, etc., then the published voting results will make the
> next election _not_ a 0-info election.
>
> We know on this list that 0-info Approval strategy is: Vote for the
> above-mean candidates.
>
> Since we're now using Plurality, it's of interest what the 0-info Pluralityi
> strategy is. It's:
>
> Vote for your favorite.
>
> That strategy fact is relevant to the upcoming presidential election. In the
> primary, and in the general election, unless you have _reliable_
> information, not from the mass media, about who's more winnable, or how the
> Pij compare, or which honest candidate is most likely to be able to take
> victory from the not-so-honest ones, then vote for your favorite, because
> that's Plurality's 0-info strategy.
>

Unfortunately disinformation is not the same as no information, especially
when you know that most of the people are going to believe the
disinformation.


Forest



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