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0 pointscouchand10y ago0 comments

Perfect information doesn't preclude the human element. It is a technical designation: each player has the entire knowledge of the game history up to and including the current state.

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zwischenzug10y ago

The original quote was:

"Where it might frustrate a chess player, is that chess lacks an element of imperfect information."

Any chess player worth their salt deals with imperfect information, and has to manage risk, make kludges, pick imperfect paths, deal with the clock etc etc.

couchandOP10y ago

Right, however none of that has to do with perfect/imperfect information.

To quote Wikipedia: "In game theory, an extensive-form game has perfect information if each player, when making any decision, is perfectly informed of all the events that have previously occurred."

This is a technical designation, it has nothing to do with the future, only the past and current state.

Yes, to be a good chess player you need to be able to evaluate your opponent and make subjective determinations. Yes, your strategy is probably imperfect. But the fact remains that you can see the entirety of the game board and you can write down the history of moves, so you have perfect information.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_information

zwischenzug10y ago

My point is in the context of a discussion about analogies about chess and software dev - if you're good at one are you good at the other etc?

In this context the fact that chess has perfect information in a technical sense is irrelevant, since chess as played is so much more than a game about digital information.

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zwischenzug10y ago

The original quote was:

"Where it might frustrate a chess player, is that chess lacks an element of imperfect information."

Any chess player worth their salt deals with imperfect information, and has to manage risk, make kludges, pick imperfect paths, deal with the clock etc etc.

couchandOP10y ago

Right, however none of that has to do with perfect/imperfect information.

To quote Wikipedia: "In game theory, an extensive-form game has perfect information if each player, when making any decision, is perfectly informed of all the events that have previously occurred."

This is a technical designation, it has nothing to do with the future, only the past and current state.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_information

zwischenzug10y ago

My point is in the context of a discussion about analogies about chess and software dev - if you're good at one are you good at the other etc?

In this context the fact that chess has perfect information in a technical sense is irrelevant, since chess as played is so much more than a game about digital information.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse