--- Dave Ketchum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> a �crit�: > So utility has SOME KIND of value which i have demonstrated I do not > understand. How about letting me in on the secret.
Maybe you can understand it in terms of "strength of preference," where multiple "greater-than" signs are used in place of worth values. Perhaps that will be more meaningful to you. Imagine these as the SENTIMENTS (these are not ballots) of the voters: 49 A>>>>B>C 2 B>>A>>>C (doesn't really matter) 49 C>>>>B>A The Condorcet ballots arising from the above sentiments: 49 A>B>C 2 B>A>C 49 C>B>A Please do not reply to this by pointing out that no one ranks B last. That is indeed a useful fact, but it has nothing to do with utility. Looking at the SENTIMENTS it is evident that B is only barely preferred to most voters' last choice. If utility were measured as "the number of greater-than signs placed to the right of the candidate among all voters" (which would certainly make sense), we see immediately that B would have the lowest score. Relevance to the prisoner's dilemma: If the A and C cooperate and agree not to rank B>Worst, they gain a 50/50 chance of electing their favorite or electing their least favorite. If they don't or can't cooperate, they get a 100% chance of electing a candidate barely superior to Worst. So, if the A and C supporters can trust each other, they improve their expectation by bullet-voting. (But I don't think they will be able to trust each other.) Relevance to other methods: I've argued earlier that Approval would be unlikely to elect B, because the Favorite>B preferences are much stronger than the B>Worst preferences. The fact that utility (strength of preference) isn't a big factor in Condorcet elections, makes it an interesting point for comparison with other methods. That is its value. Kevin Venzke [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? -- Une adresse @yahoo.fr gratuite et en fran�ais ! Yahoo! Mail : http://fr.mail.yahoo.com ---- Election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
