Baba Brinkman - The Planter's Dilemma lyrics
[Baba Brinkman - The Planter's Dilemma lyrics]
So you want hippies huh?
Alright, I’ll give you hippies
Come to BC, meet some tree platners
We’ll teach you ‘bout the prisoner’s dilemma
I was raised with a spade
In my hand – ecosystem
Restoration is the game that my fam plays
Reforestation of our native land – pine
Larch
Spruce, fir – the species we mainly plant
Rappers wanna brag about a
Seven figure salary
I’ve planted seven figures worth
Of trees by hand
With ten fingers in the dirt
Since the age of seventeen
If you ask me, I’ll be like, yeah, that’s a G
Planting trees is kinda like the game of life
You get paid for your efforts and
Never paid for your time
Yeah, it’s piecework
So there’s a rat race side
You gotta hustle if you wanna
Make your pay-cheque nice
But it’s team-work
‘cause you’re workin’ with a crew
And you gotta coordinate with the
Person next to you
‘Cause the decisions that you
Make affect them too
And efficiency is created by collective rules
See, you’re following a line of
Trees on one side
And there’s another line of trees
That you’re leaving behind
And the space between trees
Is three meters wide
It’s like watching a game of
Pac man played in rewind
And the goal is to never
Have to cross over trees
Just fill the open space
On the block economically
And never make another planter
Walk over trees
‘Cause we go at different speeds
So don’t cut me off please,!
If I cheat and you don’t cheat then I profit
If you cheat and I don’t
Cheat then you profit so we both cheat
So we can each keep somethin’
But where did all the non-cheaters go?
If you don’t cheat, and I don’t
The team profit's and people on teams can
Achieve some deep pockets
The cheats won’t beat us as
Long as we keep watchin’
So if you cheat, we’re gonna know
It’s like a sophisticated game
Of follow the leader
Where the lead player changes
Every couple of meters
And everybody’s watching for cheaters
If you’re awful eager
To plant the soft easy ground
Then we’ll call you a "creamer"
‘Cause there’s rocks and fallen trees
And piles of branches and swamps and weeds
And nice lines of trenches
And it’s easy for opportunists to
Try to take advantage
Of co-operative unit's to advance
Their own interests
So how do we regulate? Hmm, in several ways
But reputation is the most effective way
We swim in a sea of gossip
And we punish reprobates
With the threat of the loss
Of their option to participate
We got groups within groups
The truck is a six pack
But a lot of people like to work
In pairs so they can chit chat
And we live in camps of
Several dozen who interact
On a daily basis, yeah
It’s quite a mish mash
And sometimes we seem to move
With a group mind
Like a flock of birds, a school of fish
Or a pride of lions
But that’s just the illusion
Of top down design
Welcome to sociobiology, the new science
The coordination comes from
Simple local rules
That combine to produce the most cogent moves
At multiple levels
From genes to social groups
The same way your neurons compose you
If I cheat and you don’t cheat then I profit
If you cheat and I don’t
Cheat then you profit so we both cheat
So we can each keep somethin’
But where did all the non-cheaters go?
If you don’t cheat, and I don’t
The team profit's and people on teams can
Achieve some deep pockets
The cheats won’t beat us as
Long as we keep watchin’
So if you cheat, we’re gonna know
It’s the prisoner’s dilemma
You’ve been charged with a crime
But, you get off scot free if
You snitch and drop dime
And if your partner snitches on you
You’re knocked for life
So you both snitch, and you both do hard time
If only you had some kind
Of "code of the streets"
Some way to punish cheats
You could both go free
Ironically, the challenge is
Acting pro-socially
So we probably shouldn’t model
It with cut-throat thieves
The point is about where your interests lie
If you’re locked up
Well then they’re just outside
But in modern society we
Live cooperative lives
And cooperatives are the best place
To catch free rides
So who’s "pimping the system"
And who’s snitchin’? In game theory terms
"snitchin’" means defection
From a collective
Along with the loss of it's protection
It’s the "tragedy of the
Commons" the Hip-Hop edition
‘Cause a gangster whose motto
Is "stop snitchin’" is a snitch from the
Perspective of honest citizens
And the Kyoto accord is
A dilemma for prisoners of this planet
And those who block it are snitches
But the system only works if
The members see an active
Distribution of benefit's
And graduated sanctions
Just like the tree-planters
‘cause whatever the endeavor
Life is just an iterated prisoner’s dilemma
If I cheat and you don’t cheat then I profit
If you cheat and I don’t
Cheat then you profit so we both cheat
So we can each keep somethin’
But where did all the non-cheaters go?
If you don’t cheat, and I don’t
The team profit's and people on teams can
Achieve some deep pockets
The cheats won’t beat us as
Long as we keep watchin’
So if you cheat, we’re gonna know
The prisoner’s dilemma is part cooperation
And part competition, it’s an elegant model
For the evolution of social behaviour
It’s a cross between "turn the other cheek"
And "an eye for an eye"
And the better we understand it
The better our chances of surviving
So how do you punish cheats, huh?
Oh, you don’t punish cheats?
Shame on you! Shame!
Alright, I’ll give you hippies
Come to BC, meet some tree platners
We’ll teach you ‘bout the prisoner’s dilemma
I was raised with a spade
In my hand – ecosystem
Restoration is the game that my fam plays
Reforestation of our native land – pine
Larch
Spruce, fir – the species we mainly plant
Rappers wanna brag about a
Seven figure salary
I’ve planted seven figures worth
Of trees by hand
With ten fingers in the dirt
Since the age of seventeen
If you ask me, I’ll be like, yeah, that’s a G
Planting trees is kinda like the game of life
You get paid for your efforts and
Never paid for your time
Yeah, it’s piecework
So there’s a rat race side
You gotta hustle if you wanna
Make your pay-cheque nice
But it’s team-work
‘cause you’re workin’ with a crew
And you gotta coordinate with the
Person next to you
‘Cause the decisions that you
Make affect them too
And efficiency is created by collective rules
See, you’re following a line of
Trees on one side
And there’s another line of trees
That you’re leaving behind
And the space between trees
Is three meters wide
It’s like watching a game of
Pac man played in rewind
And the goal is to never
Have to cross over trees
Just fill the open space
On the block economically
And never make another planter
Walk over trees
‘Cause we go at different speeds
So don’t cut me off please,!
If I cheat and you don’t cheat then I profit
If you cheat and I don’t
Cheat then you profit so we both cheat
So we can each keep somethin’
But where did all the non-cheaters go?
If you don’t cheat, and I don’t
The team profit's and people on teams can
Achieve some deep pockets
The cheats won’t beat us as
Long as we keep watchin’
So if you cheat, we’re gonna know
It’s like a sophisticated game
Of follow the leader
Where the lead player changes
Every couple of meters
And everybody’s watching for cheaters
If you’re awful eager
To plant the soft easy ground
Then we’ll call you a "creamer"
‘Cause there’s rocks and fallen trees
And piles of branches and swamps and weeds
And nice lines of trenches
And it’s easy for opportunists to
Try to take advantage
Of co-operative unit's to advance
Their own interests
So how do we regulate? Hmm, in several ways
But reputation is the most effective way
We swim in a sea of gossip
And we punish reprobates
With the threat of the loss
Of their option to participate
We got groups within groups
The truck is a six pack
But a lot of people like to work
In pairs so they can chit chat
And we live in camps of
Several dozen who interact
On a daily basis, yeah
It’s quite a mish mash
And sometimes we seem to move
With a group mind
Like a flock of birds, a school of fish
Or a pride of lions
But that’s just the illusion
Of top down design
Welcome to sociobiology, the new science
The coordination comes from
Simple local rules
That combine to produce the most cogent moves
At multiple levels
From genes to social groups
The same way your neurons compose you
If I cheat and you don’t cheat then I profit
If you cheat and I don’t
Cheat then you profit so we both cheat
So we can each keep somethin’
But where did all the non-cheaters go?
If you don’t cheat, and I don’t
The team profit's and people on teams can
Achieve some deep pockets
The cheats won’t beat us as
Long as we keep watchin’
So if you cheat, we’re gonna know
It’s the prisoner’s dilemma
You’ve been charged with a crime
But, you get off scot free if
You snitch and drop dime
And if your partner snitches on you
You’re knocked for life
So you both snitch, and you both do hard time
If only you had some kind
Of "code of the streets"
Some way to punish cheats
You could both go free
Ironically, the challenge is
Acting pro-socially
So we probably shouldn’t model
It with cut-throat thieves
The point is about where your interests lie
If you’re locked up
Well then they’re just outside
But in modern society we
Live cooperative lives
And cooperatives are the best place
To catch free rides
So who’s "pimping the system"
And who’s snitchin’? In game theory terms
"snitchin’" means defection
From a collective
Along with the loss of it's protection
It’s the "tragedy of the
Commons" the Hip-Hop edition
‘Cause a gangster whose motto
Is "stop snitchin’" is a snitch from the
Perspective of honest citizens
And the Kyoto accord is
A dilemma for prisoners of this planet
And those who block it are snitches
But the system only works if
The members see an active
Distribution of benefit's
And graduated sanctions
Just like the tree-planters
‘cause whatever the endeavor
Life is just an iterated prisoner’s dilemma
If I cheat and you don’t cheat then I profit
If you cheat and I don’t
Cheat then you profit so we both cheat
So we can each keep somethin’
But where did all the non-cheaters go?
If you don’t cheat, and I don’t
The team profit's and people on teams can
Achieve some deep pockets
The cheats won’t beat us as
Long as we keep watchin’
So if you cheat, we’re gonna know
The prisoner’s dilemma is part cooperation
And part competition, it’s an elegant model
For the evolution of social behaviour
It’s a cross between "turn the other cheek"
And "an eye for an eye"
And the better we understand it
The better our chances of surviving
So how do you punish cheats, huh?
Oh, you don’t punish cheats?
Shame on you! Shame!