Discovered the Braess Paradox today (or learned about it, rather). It’s a situation in which adding links to a network—for instance roads to a highway system—actually results in greater transit times. A fascinating case from game theory.
The irony is that allowing people more choice results in greater constraint on them. It feels like a spooky example of material agency, but I’m still thinking about how to fully translate it into those terms.
Also, I’m fascinated as to whether the example only works for physical networks and rival goods, or whether there are situations in which the paradox applies to things like social networks, or semiotic networks for that matter. Someone has to have considered this. At any rate, something here may be good fodder for a dissertation chapter. Thoughts?
