
Self-Control in Chimpanzees Relates to General Intelligence - nabla9
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)31676-7
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tremendulo
Small reward now or larger reward later? In real life we might think: why
can't I just have _both_?

Yet it frequently _is_ a matter of 'either or' since the smaller reward robs
me of the _mental resources_ required to create or bring about the larger
reward. For example if I party now I won't get the new job later on because I
won't have the energy to learn the relevant skills.

~~~
mjfl
You can have both. Invest 10% of your salary each month in a retirement fund,
eat out with the rest, net costs like rent. You'll retire a millionaire. You
just need to size the rewards correctly.

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EGreg
I never understood this... if there was some investment strategy that beat
inflation, then if everyone used it, inflation would catch up to it.

So if you invest 10% of your salary all you're doing is saving 10% adjusted
for inflation, assuming your investment vehicle doesn't do worse than
inflation. And then when you retire you just live off that.

There is no free lunch. In Capitalism, millions of people are in a rat race to
survive and eat.

~~~
WalterBright
> if there was some investment strategy that beat inflation,

There is, stocks average 7% returns after inflation.

> then if everyone used it, inflation would catch up to it.

Inflation is caused by the government printing money faster than the economy
grows, not investments.

~~~
EGreg
It can be caused by both.

Inflation is a result of a large number of people being able to pay higher
prices for the same goods.

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WalterBright
The act of spending does not create money.

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EGreg
That is not relevant to what we were talking about.

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WalterBright
How do you think money is created?

In any case, no matter how wealthy Fred is, if Fred spends an extra $1000 on X
then he has $1000 less to spend on something else. How is that supposed to
result in inflation? Spending money doesn't magically put more money in one's
pocket (despite wishing it did!), it means you've got less money.

~~~
y4mi
Inflation means, afaik, only that the same amount of money has lesser
purchasing power than it previously had.

This is an effect that can have various causes. One of them is that the
government or Central Banks printed more money. Another way this could happen
is if there was an influx of income in your region. This effect is less
visible in today's economy with cheap and easy shipping of products, but can
still be observed in objects that are pretty much impossible to ship. The only
example that comes to my mind right now is housing.

~~~
WalterBright
> Inflation means, afaik, only that the same amount of money has lesser
> purchasing power than it previously had.

That's a tautological definition.

Money's value is determined by supply and demand, just like everything else.
If there's more money representing the same amount of goods, the money gets
devalued and you have inflation.

To understand inflation one must understand how money is created and
destroyed, i.e. what determines the supply of money. Spending money faster
does not create more supply, and McDonald's raising their prices is not
inflationary because they did not create more money.

Money is created by printing it, or by the creation of debt. Money is
destroyed by burning it or by paying down debt.

~~~
y4mi
Well, Wikipedia seems to agree with that tautological definition.

While McDonald's alone increasing their price wouldn't be inflation, it could
become that if a significant part of the businesses in that location increased
theirs as well.

It's just really hard to find examples of this today. It's mostly limited to
holiday hotzones, rent and similar.

~~~
WalterBright
> Wikipedia seems to agree with that tautological definition.

It reminds me of when I saw a technical analyst on CNBC sagely note that the
reason the P/E ratio was high was because the Price rose faster than the
Earnings. Sheesh!

It is not inflationary if McDonald's increases their prices. Spending more at
McDonald's means you have less to spend elsewhere. Your spending does not
create more money to replace it.

Consider if the money was a fixed number gold coins instead, and you'll see
that anyone raising prices does not result in more gold coins.

~~~
y4mi
well, now we've gone full circle.

Inflation does not mean that the amount of money was increased. This is "just"
the primary way a government or central bank controls the inflation

The definition of inflation is limited to the devaluement of a currency. This
means that it can only be evaluated by comparing that currency to actual goods
/ services that can be bought / used.

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ggm
social interaction gives immediate feedback. So, if your brain(s) are hunting
to optimal strategies, being able to do net-present-value in a socialized
competition is highly likely to get strong re-inforcement.

net-present-value to determine to plant the yummy seed for a fruit tree later
has huge upsides, but demands less strong linkage ("seasons" == delay == plant
now eat in 3 years) which I think is probably a product of stronger models of
net-present-value than a chimp routinely builds.

the kinds of test they are administering have short cycles. they play to the
social interactions chimps experience in the wild.

Try and ask the chimp to deposit into a food-based "pension fund" for its
children and mates instead of eating the goodies, and see how many can learn
to accrue compound interest

