Erez Yoeli is a research scientist at MIT's Sloan School of Management where he directs the Applied Corporations Team. His research focuses on altruism: understanding how it works and how to promote it. He collaborates with governments, nonprofits, and companies to apply the lessons of this research towards addressing real-world challenges like increasing energy conservation, improving antibiotic adherence, reducing smoking in public places, and promoting philanthropy.
Erez also has a popular Ted Talk about how to motivate people to do good for others. His new book Hidden Games: The Surprising Power of Game Theory to Explain Irrational Human Behavior with co-author Moshe Hoffman is a fun, powerfully insightful book, but also, an eye-opening argument for using game theory to explain all the irrational things we think, feel, and do.
Erez and I discuss:
- A brief introduction to Game Theory
- His coauthor's remarkable story
- Why we crave "saviors"
- The importance of reputation in influencing good behavior
- How we determine what good behavior is
- How is game theory applicable in the political domain?
- His TED talk
And so much more...
My Take: We are not as rational as we think we are. It is important to take stock of this fact and question - why do we do certain things? Why do we act in ways that may go against our own self-interest? The path to knowledge is through questioning - and it is imperative to ask the most important question first - why?
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