, Columnist
The Computer Models Say That Diversity Helps
Different minds matter.
Only one way to look at it.
Photographer: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images)This article is for subscribers only.
Scott E. Page trained as a game theorist, and in game theory, diversity is usually an obstacle to overcome. That is, the more diverse the preferences of the participants in a game, the harder it is to come to a mutually acceptable solution.
Early in his career, though, while teaching economics at the California Institute of Technology, Page decided to try looking at diversity in a different way. As he recounted in his 2007 book "The Difference":