Ambiguity in communication enables exploitation despite protecting social order

Evidence

The notion ‘amount of communication’ is by no means a simple one, and an important qualification concerning its benefit in bargaining or contractual situations concerns the degree of ambiguity potentially present in any communication. While a measure of ambiguity can be of value for the maintenance of any social status quo (for reasons which will be discussed below), and indeed is inevitable, it nevertheless provides a potential for exploitation by the unscrupulous. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 580

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ambiguity’s dual role — protective for status quo but exploitable — the precise asymmetry the doctor’s wife exploits by hiding her sight.
• XREF: Maps to the doctor’s wife’s hidden sight as a perfect information asymmetry; also to Hardin’s opportunistic-behavior concern. — connects to: Communication models must include eavesdroppers as evolutionary actors — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 540