Just Curious → Expert
Behavioral Capture Systems
A slot machine, a trading app, a Panini album and an infinite feed look like different worlds. Mathematically, many are the same machine. The mechanisms behind them are well studied but rarely looked at together: this series puts a single unifying lens on a known phenomenon, and starts from one unsettling question, why is it so easy to pull people into these spirals?
14 articles
~194 min total
Behavioral Capture SystemsBehavioral EconomicsProbabilityAttentionPsychologyGame Design
Articles in this Series(showing 2 of 14)
AttentionBehavioral Capture SystemsBehavioral EconomicsExpected ValueGamblingProbabilitySystems Thinking
1
Just Curious
The Hidden Architecture of Attention
A slot machine, a trading app, a Panini album and an infinite feed look like different worlds. Mathematically, many are the same machine. The mechanisms behind them are well studied but rarely looked at together: this series puts a single unifying lens on a known phenomenon, and starts from one unsettling question, why is it so easy to pull people into these spirals?
Jun 29, 202612 min read
Behavioral Capture SystemsBehavioral EconomicsProbabilityAttention+1
2
Want to Learn
Why the House Always Wins: Expected Value
A casino does not need to cheat. A single number, baked into every bet, guarantees that time is on the house's side. We derive expected value from scratch and find the same number hiding in lotteries, loot boxes and trading fees.
Jun 29, 202613 min read
Behavioral Capture SystemsBehavioral EconomicsProbabilityExpected Value+1