[1propionyl]

> Even in extremis: A fist-fight is a sequence of biomechanical optimization problems, and there's always a "perfect move" at any given moment in time.

No, it is not. And no, there isn't.

This is exactly the sort of reductive mode of thought the article is calling out.

[jstanley]

Just because you don't know what the best move is doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[ysofunny]

there is only a perfect move in certain kinds of constrained "games", like a fight.

[A_D_E_P_T]

You can literally model this.

Sure, there's a predictive aspect to it. What if your opponent zigs instead of zags, etc. But this is basically a matter of forecastable probabilities and can be added to your model. The optimal move still exists, no question about it.

Any problem of bodily motion through space has an optimal solution. In athletic situations, humans often can't think fast enough to find/utilize it, or aren't coordinated enough to move in the optimal way. And a biomechanically-perfect savant may still lose to an opponent vastly physically superior.

[strken]

I'd bet you $20 that none of the people who have ever won a fistfight have done so by modelling it as a biomechanical optimisation problem, at least on the fly while it was happening.

The comparison is unintentionally funny because it's the exact same "I can ignore the experience of the people who my work impacts because my models are perfect" mentality that produces unlivable apartments in dead lifeless streets.

[zaphar]

This is the sort of statement that is both true and also completely useless in a fist-fight. A fist fight is both biomechanical movement and also a mind-game comprising physical, mental, and emotional stamina.

[travisjungroth]

> You can literally model this.

Show me.