The Wayward Axolotl

Suppose that you go into an alien casino on the planet Zreebnorf, and you are offered to play a game. It works like this. The casino will match you with another player at random. The players don’t know who they are playing with, so there is no way for them to coordinate their actions or reciprocate after the game. Both players secretly pick a number between 1 and 100. The outcome of the game is then calculated as follows. If both players picked the same number, let X be the number they picked. Both players will receive X credits from the house and have to pay (100 − X) credits to the house. If the players picked different numbers, let X be the smaller number. The player who chose X will receive (X + 2) credits, and the other player will pay (100 − X) credits to the house. (Credits are standard Galactic currency worth approximately $1 USD each.) Some examples: Both players pick 50. They both pay 50 credits and receive 50 credits, for a net payout of 0. Both players pick 100. ...

As I write this, the US election is still undecided, but it looks like Biden will eke out a narrow win. Trump is claiming that the election is being stolen. The way the election unfolded certainly created that impression, with vote-counting stopped in key states on election night, and now dragging out over multiple days, as Trump's lead in those states slowly evaporates. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that there was some fraud (there usually is) and probably more than usual, but I don't think Trump will be able to do much about it. Even if there was substantial election fraud, it would be only a small part of the campaign by the establishment against Trump. He has been the target of a massive disinformation campaign by the mass media. He and his supporters have been censored by the major tech platforms. Judges have blocked his orders. Governors and mayors have defied him, to the extent of allowing anarchy in their own streets. There are very good reasons for Trump and ...