LS Lowry and Idea #160 is Game Theory

Come and see this

On Sunday I went along to Tate Britain with an old School friend to see the LS (Lawrence Stephen - not sure why some people get known by their initials) Exhibition -I enjoyed it despite the fact that  I'm not his(LS's)  number one fan and I'd also read the Brian Sewell review which was less than positive.
So what did the exhibition tell me?


Spot the Lowry Clichés

I suppose one of the things to note is that he was not some backward self taught naïve artist - one of his teachers was the French artist  Adolphe Valette - and he was quite an (impressionist)  talent (I reckon).
Another point is that he was interested in looking at how perspective could be subverted (it's important to remember that he was painting at the time of Cubism), he has an irritating (for me)
 attachment to some devices (people with walking sticks bent  into the wind) and subjects (coming/returning to the works/football game) but he did experiment and push himself (bigger canvases different locations). For me he's not necessarily an artist to enjoy but having been fortunate enough to learn a little about how to enjoy art (Thanks Nick Pearson) I'm able to see value in work that is not my personal taste.
Lowry works too as a commentator and witness to a now forgotten industrial history of Northern England.

Big  Idea Number 160  is Game Theory

Game theory is not only relevant in economics but its application there is often telling.
The definition is
"A model of optimality taking into consideration not only benefits less costs, but also the interaction between participants."
Game theory attempts to look at the relationships between participants in a particular model and predict their optimal decisions.
Eight people have been  awarded the Nobel prize (Economics)  for their work on the subject and John Maynard Smith was awarded the Crafoord Prize for his application of game theory in biology.
The classic example cited by Crofton is that of two criminal suspects being separately interviewed and choosing to inform on one another (The Prisoners Dilemma).