Fairness

[speling bee]

Fair means that I've got what I want.

[mudskipper]

This is a bit serious this thread. Could someone post some "would you?" pictures? Of women not men.....

Fair or brunette?

[BrilloPad]

This is a bit serious this thread. Could someone post some "would you?" pictures? Of women not men.....

[doodab]

Compared to a word like Full or Empty the defined meaning of Fair is much less certain and self defined.

That's because the context is clearer. When you talk about full or empty it's usually in the context of a particular container, it's not an arbitrary, subjective choice. Talk about something with more room for subjective interpretation like a full or empty life and the meaning becomes vaguer too.

The point of the definition of fairness in the article (and theory of fair division it talks about) is that it deals with the problem of subjectivity by making the context explicit in such a way that it doesn't prefer one reference frame over another. It's similar to the way an observer in the theory of relativity has their own choice of reference frame but none is preferred and the results are the same whichever arbitrary choice of reference frame you make.

[doodab]

Fair has no meaning, like Best.

That's a popular dogma, but the fact you then go on to tell us what fair means to you just illustrates what an ill thought out statement it is in general, and in the context of a mathematical theory which explicitly defines a meaning for the word in terms of axioms it's patently untrue.

The worst you can say is that it's meaning is relative, but as the same can be said for space and time I don't really see that as much of a handicap.

[doodab]

I've just been reading an article about division problems, and it has a definition of what constitutes "fair". A fair division is envy-free, equitable and efficient. What does this mean?

"envy-free" means each person likes their share more than any of the others.

"equitable" means that everyone gets the same "utiltiy", however this is based on their subjective valuations, not an external one.

"efficient" means there is no way to make one person happier without making another person less happy. If there is a way two parties could trade some of their share and both would be happier, the division is inefficient.

So there you are, it seems you can talk about things being "fair" without it being a moral judgement after all.

Original article here, for those who are interested.

Math Shall Set You Free