Inspired by Jared Henderson’s post on free philosophy lectures, I want to share some of my favorite free online resources for learning PPE—i.e., philosophy, politics, and economics, an interdisciplinary degree that’s been growing ever since it started in Oxford a century ago. Note: I’ve tried to include a variety of sources, media, and viewpoints, but this is not a comprehensive list. Tell me in the comments what you think I’ve left out!1 Games
- The Parable of the Polygons
- Created by Vi Hart and Nicky Case, this game lets you play around with Thomas Schelling’s model of segregated neighborhoods. It’s a perfect way to see how micromotives cause macrobehavior.
- The Evolution of Trust
- Another Nicky Case gem—this time, based on Robert Axelrod’s Evolution of Cooperation. Probably the single best introduction to the Prisoner’s Dilemma that you can find online.
- For more on the repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma with noise, see Axelrod’s follow-up The Complexity of Cooperation—in particular the material about “generosity” and “contrition.”
- The Game of Life
- The definitive zero-player game, John Conway’s Game of Life lets you see how self-sustaining patterns can emerge from extremely simple deterministic rules. Dan Dennett once said every philosopher should have to study it before they’re allowed to start writing.