Irrationality and games

In certain games, it can be wise to undermine your opponents' confidence in your rationality.

In a language game, we are engaged in constructing rationality: in negotiating the conditions of sense-making. In a commercial language game, the material dimensions of this negotiation can't be ignored. They partly determine what makes sense, but they also partly determine which aspects of the negotiation have to remain tacit.

In any language game - in any conversation - some of this negotiation is tacit, of course, but we think this can be ignored in 'scientific' or 'academic' language games.

But even in an ideal academic conversation ideas are products that are bought and sold ...