Game theory is a way of quantitatively describing what happens any time one thing interacts with another thing, when both things have goals and potential rewards. That's a pretty broad class of interesting events, so it is unsurprising that game theory is a useful way of thinking about everything from international relations to the evolution of peacock feathers. I talk with philosopher Kevin Zollman about what game theory is and how it gets used in biology and human interactions. We discuss how thinking in game-theoretic terms can help understand the origin of meaning and intentionality in human language.Blog post with transcript: <a href="https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/01/337-kevin-zollman-on-game-theory-signals-and-meaning/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/01/337-kevin-zollman-on-game-theory-signals-and-meaning/</a>Support Mindscape on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Patreon</a>.Kevin Zollman received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Irvine. He is currently the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Philosophy and Social and Decision Sciences in the Department of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also an associate fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, and a visiting professor at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy. He serves as the Director of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/social-dynamics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Institute for Complex Social Dynamics</a>&nbsp;at CMU. He is the co-author, with Paul Raeburn, of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Game-Theorists-Guide-Parenting-Negotiators-ebook/dp/B015CLB53M/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Game Theorist's Guide to Parenting</a>.<ul><li><a href="https://www.kevinzollman.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Web site</a></li><li><a href="https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/philosophy/people/faculty/kevin-zollman.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CMU web page</a></li><li><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XMu62aQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Google Scholar publications</a></li><li><a href="https://philpeople.org/profiles/kevin-zollman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">PhilPeople profile</a></li></ul>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.

Podurama

Home

Trending

Personal

Your Podcasts

New Episodes

My Files

Favourite Episodes

Tags (Folders)

Recently Played

Bookmarks

Followed Playlists

337 | Kevin Zollman on Game Theory, Signals, and Meaning

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

AI Chapters

AI Insights

Reviews