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James Stephen Brown — LessWrong

James Stephen Brown

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James Stephen Brown

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I write and talk about game theory, moral philosophy, ethical economics and artificial intelligence—focused on non-zero-sum games and their importance in solving the world's problems.

I have admitted I am wrong at least 10 times on the internet.

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James Stephen Brown

I write and talk about game theory, moral philosophy, ethical economics and artificial intelligence—focused on non-zero-sum games and their importance in solving the world's problems.

I have admitted I am wrong at least 10 times on the internet.

Top postsTop post

Unlocking Solutions—by understanding coordination problems

The following is a post introducing coordination problems, using the examples of poaching, civilisational development, drug addiction and affirmative action. It draws on my experience as a documentary filmmaker. The post is available for free in its original format at nonzerosum.games and is available in audio on the Non-Zero-Sum James Podcast. When I was eleven, I disassembled the lock to our back door, and as I opened the housing… it exploded, scattering six tiny brass pellets on to the floor. I discovered (too late) that a lock of this type contained spring-loaded cylinders of different heights corresponding to the teeth of the key. I struggled for hours trying to get the little buggers back in, but it was futile—eventually, my long suffering parents called a locksmith. The reason fixing the lock was so difficult was not only because it was spring-loaded but because I had to find the right combination and hold them all in balance as I put it back together. I just couldn’t coordinate everything. Coordination Problems We sometimes run into problems where a number of factors have to be addressed simultaneously in order for them to be effective at all. One weak link can ruin it for the rest. These are called Coordination Problems. The fact that they are so much more difficult to solve than other problems means that many of the problems remaining in the world today, end up being coordination problems. Poaching An example of a system requiring more than one problem to be solved at once, is poaching. If you police poaching behavior but don’t address the buyers you are left with the perpetual cost of policing, because the demand remains. If you address the buyers, the poachers, who are likely living in poverty may just move on to some other criminal behavior. Daniel Schmachtenberger tells the story of eliminating elephant poaching in one particular region in Africa: > “The first one I noticed when I was a kid was trying to solve an elephant poaching issu

An Interactive Shapley Value Explainer

Emergence Spirals—what Yudkowsky gets wrong

Masculinity—A Case For Courage

What About Us?

In the previous post we explored the benefits for innovation that reasoning by analogy brings, and the utilisation of this process by the greatest minds throughout history and today. Analogies for Dummies But is this sort of thinking only available to geniuses capable of holding such vast realms in their...

The Whole Kitten-Cavoodle

In the first post in this series, we detailed what polymaths are and what first principles thinking is. In this post we will critique first principles thinking and make a case that reasoning by analogy is a more effective method—even for its critics. What’s not so good about First Principles...

An Argument for Analogies

The following is a link-post to a series about polymathy (..ism?) and makes a case for arguing by analogy as opposed to first principles (most of the time). It also has embedded audio, read by me, if you prefer to listen. Renaissance Men* I’ve always been fascinated by polymaths—people who...

The NPC → MC Spectrum

… or my leadership style as opposed to Stuart’s When Stuart Krohn heard a commotion behind him at a Dodgers game, he turned to see that a man three rows back was choking. Dozens of people surrounding the man were panicking, impotent to help. But without a second thought, Stuart...

Nov 29, 2025•6

Dr Evil & Realpolitik

Why can’t we all just get along? The news today is characterised by conflict, war, sanctions, tariffs and fracturing allegiances, distracting from the monumental issues we must face globally like climate change, inequality and AI. This post unpacks the cost of conflict in geopolitics today, by looking to theories of...

Oct 12, 2025•16

Rights & Liberties—are opposites

During my misspent youth I partook in a number of polite “online disagreements” about religion. As a budding young wanderer in philosophy I felt one needed to ascend the godly terrain in order to reach higher ground. I learned much through these debates, honing my own philosophical position, but once...

Aug 16, 2025•1

Saidi, My Friend—what do we owe to each other?

The following post is about an important relationship in my life. It deals with my own experience with charitable giving and I feel a little uncomfortable about this. But I believe it’s important to share meaningful experiences. Giving What We Can suggests that stories about giving can open up possibilities...

Aug 9, 2025•10

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