Jul 17 2014
Conversation | Remco Heesen and Konstantin Genin discuss the St. Petersburg Paradox
Thurs | 6:30pm
Philosophers Remco Heesen and Konstantin Genin will discuss the theory of the St. Petersburg Paradox developed by 18th century Swiss mathematicians, cousins Nicolaus and Daniel Bernoulli, as well as recent academic research on decision and game theory.
Remco Heesen is currently a PhD student in philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University, having previously obtained degrees from Tilburg University and the London School of Economics. While at Tilburg, he worked on the St. Petersburg Paradox and a related problem, the Pasadena game. In his current research, he applies decision and game theory to gain a better understanding of the social structure of science. Remco’s PhD dissertation will focus on the question of how scientists can make a tradeoff between working quickly, so they can share their results, and working carefully, so they avoid errors.
Konstantin Genin is a PhD candidate in philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also pursuing a master’s degree in Machine Learning. He previously studied mathematics and philosophy at Brown University. His research conceives of science as a game between Nature and the scientist. His current work focuses on mathematical formulations of theoretical simplicity and game-theoretic justifications for Ockham’s Razor.
Related Exhibitions
