This is Aiton Weinstein.

And I'm Na Or Meninger, and you're listening to Two Nice Jewish Boys.

Back in 1953, at MIT, two young mathematicians crossed paths.

Professor Israel Aumann was a young, brilliant doctoral student when he met John Nash,

the founder of game theory and the subject of the biography and Oscar-winning film, A Beautiful Mind. Nass shared his ideas on game theory with Alman, who later

said, quote, I didn't give the field much thought at the time because I was busy with pure

mathematics. Years later, when Alman was hired by Bell to work on anti-aircraft missiles, he realized

that Nash's ideas were a game changer, pun intended.

Later, both men would receive Nobel Prizes for their contributions to the field of economics.

Recently, Alman expressed criticism about assertions by prominent behavioral economists,

such as Daniel Kahnman and Dan Ariely, that humans are fundamentally irrational.

Alman urges a return to rationality.

Professor Israel Alman is himself a legend of game theory.

He's a founding member of the Stony Brook Center for Game Theory and is a professor at the

center for the study of rationality at the Hebrew University.

We're thrilled to be joined today on the show for the second time by Professor Israel Alman.

Thank you so much for joining us, Professor.

Good morning. I'm glad to be here. Let me start out by making a correction.

Yes. Okay. Jodash is not the founder of game theory, okay?

The founder of game theory, there are two founders, actually.

One is John von Neumann, who was, I would say probably

among

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