Flying Carousel of Science

William and Aidan on
the Flying Carousel

The Flying Horse Carousel in Watch Hill, Rhode Island is a historical landmark enjoyed by generations of children seeking the brass ring. Parents measure their child's progress through their patronage of the carousel. At two years old they select their favorite among the inner ten horses then hang on for dear life. At three they move to the outer horses where they are handed rings by the attendants. Before long they begin snatching rings from the holder allowing a chance at the elusive brass. They get a solid four or five seasons perfecting their technique before puberty ushers in a weight above the limit.

Most of the local kids move on to the operation of the carousel as a summer job. It was sad the day my son, Aidan, rode the carousel for the last time. The teenagers running the carousel knew it was his final ride so they handed him the brass ring several times allowing an extended whirl. Back in 2017, our youngest, William, was just discovering his ability to snatch rings from the holder. At the time, he hadn't yet felt the summer joy of discovering brass in his little hand.

The carousel offers a lot of opportunity for amusement. When Aidan or one of his friends came up with the brass ring my friend, Steve, would always shout,

"Take the thousand dollars!"

As if there was a choice between one free ride or $1000. The tourists would all look puzzled. Once I told Aidan,

"Don't come home unless you get the brass ring."

The frowns from parents were priceless. Every once in a while a kid snatches the prize and says,

"Mom, Dad! I got the golden ring!"

One of us usually exclaims,

"It's brass. Go back to New Jersey."

Aidan also enjoyed pretending that he fell asleep as the ride whirled about. The carousel was abandoned by a travelling circus in 1879. Originally, it was powered by a horse, but over the years it was modernized and housed in a stone and wood structure at the entrance to the town beach. During winter the horses are repaired and repainted by volunteers. The ride is the oldest flying carousel still in operation in the country. It's been lovingly cared for by the nonprofit Watch Hill Improvement Society for decades.

One day, as I watched Aidan reach out for a ring, I thought of the movie, A Beautiful Mind, starring Russel Crowe as John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics. Nash came up with the game theory concept, Nash Equilibrium, which was depicted in the film as a bunch of guys employing a collaborative strategy to score with a blonde. Not only was this not an example of Nash Equilibrium, it didn't actually happen. That's Hollywood for you. Always dumbing down history for the consumption by us stupid people. The closest the movie got to the actual definition of Nash Equilibrium is when Crowe said,

"The best result comes from everyone in the group doing what's best for himself and the group."

This got me thinking about the brass ring and carousel. I had Aidan and five of his friends position themselves one horse apart from each other. There were ten outer horses which gave access to the ring holder. The odds of getting the brass ring was one out of ten. I instructed the group to pass on the ring when it was not brass so as to constantly feed a losing selection to the person behind them. This ensured that one of the five in the group would always get the brass ring, doubling the odds of someone on the team winning.

The strategy worked amazingly well with the odds going up as the number of riders went down. Some times Aidan rode the carousel with only one tourist who he fed all the losing rings. In this scenario, getting the brass ring is all but guaranteed. Aidan and his friends began dominating the brass ring capture with some kids getting it over ten times for the season. Aidan, himself, lost count after twenty. I enjoyed his theatrics as he missed the ring, ensuring the hapless kid behind him snagged a loser.

Science is often used to enhance our lives as in better medical advancements, more effective means of communication or increased travel convenience. Ever so often, some people use science to beat the system like the Eudaemons, a small group of University of California physics graduate students who in the 1970s figured out an algorithm to predict the outcome of roulette. They derived their name from the word "eudaimonia" which means "human flourishing."

And that's what Aidan did with four of his friends one summer. They flourished as each upped their brass ring count. It never lost its appeal. In fact, it got even more exciting as each kid knew they were beating the system. Many asked me to explain the increased odds they experienced by the passing strategy. One parent said,

"I hope you feel good that you taught them how to cheat."

They weren't cheating like doping, deflating a football or illegally avoiding taxes. They used knowledge to increase their odds of winning. That's not cheating. That's smart. In the end the flying carousel of Watch Hill will continue to whirl about through the summers enthralling generations of children, and every so often the old ride just might inspire a kid to go into science.

Editor's Note: Jeff Probst, the host of Survivor, cashing in on the popularity of the movie, A Beautiful Mind, once claimed that everything needed to win Survivor was in Nash's seminal paper. I'm sure Professor Nash would be thrilled that his Nobel Prize winning work was helping people win the Dorito Food Challenge. Originally posted on March 17, 2017.