[Mnet-devel] another paper

[Some Guy]

 --- Jim Dixon <jdd at dixons.org> wrote: 
> On Sat, 8 May 2004 zooko at zooko.com wrote:

> The big failing is the requirement that the utility function be
> differentiable.  It just doesn't square with experience.  Most people have
> low bandwidth connections, so files take a long time to download. A CDROM
> takes hours, a DVD can take days.  So satisfaction comes in chunks, and
> often enough the download fails, leaving people frustrated. Or, as a
> mathematician would say, utility is a step function (and so is not
> continuously differentiable) and can be negative.  This does not at all
> match the model in the paper.

You do realise that he's not dirrectly talking about people getting utility from downloading
files?  He's talking about people getting utility out of making a mix of files available to
others.  This makes sense in a politicial or advertising enviroment where people are trying to
push data out there.  It doesn't make too much sense if people are just tring to download data and
don't really care if anyone else can download anything.

His view is like that of a group of people with a webserver with a fixed storage capacity.  Some
want the world to see more blue data and some more red data.  Everyone has his own personal idea
of how much blue and red there should be and any deviation from this mix gives him less utility.


	

	
		
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