Thanks @dana-edwards, I love these thought provoking articles. I personally would model my morals based off of logical decision when possible, using linear programming, although I do prefer to call it linear optimisation!
It is an interesting concept, that would be impossible to apply to life 100% of the time, but it certainly helps when logical decisions are need that contain a strong moral aspect. Thanks for sharing!
For running a business or making very important decisions perhaps the tools of mathematics can help greatly. For instance should you or should you not promote a lending platform? This question would be interesting to model. On one hand a person could make millions of dollars quickly and easily but on the other it's in a way which is notoriously difficult to keep due to the higher than usual risk of lawsuits. Reputation also is important to consider because that is at risk in anything we do.
I agree - I am currently setting up multiple businesses and because I come from an engineering background, I use mathematical (especially statistical) modelling when it comes to weighing up decisions.
For a question such as that, I would use a simple risk:reward model, and factor in my reputation as a risk. I think the risk far outweighs the reward, and I feel that this is the case for most promotional work. I recently did up a risk:reward analysis for promoting Steemit, as I am planning to source some delegated SP, bring a lot of new people to the platform, and start rewarding high quality posts that do not get the attention they deserve, with a specific focus on newcomers.
I concluded that the reward for both me and the community far outweighed potential risks, which is why I am now actively seeking help to get delegated SP and have just started a marketing strategy for promoting the platform. I may not have come to this conclusion without the decision making model that I use, which I'm very happy about!
That is sort of what I did when I decided against promoting Bitconnect. It was my reputation which I did not want to put at risk even for a few million dollars. It's not enough just to make the money but also to keep it and not be destroyed socially because of it.
I agree there, it simply would not worth it. if you would be interested in my new venture, I'm looking for experienced Steemians who post great content to help out. Let me know, it could go very well!