Strategy vs. Reality

       How many times have you planned strategies, but ended up catching yourself slipping out of the plan? How many hours have you spent on reading articles on healthy living, but still ended up eating more, ad worse, craving for more? And lastly, how many nights have you cried yourself to sleep, deeply disturbed by the could-have-been’s? The human mind has created thousands of strategies in dealing with everyday life. These strategies ought to guide you and help you a get good night’s sleep, not killing yourself with regrets.

The book Rock, Paper, Scissors by Len Fisher tackles on the Game theory in everyday life. Game theory deals with the study of creating strategic decisions under challenging times.  The outcome of these strategies depends on the ones contributed by the other party.  The first chapter of the book focused on the Prisoner’s Dilemma, which is one of the common examples of game theory. In the Prisoner’s Dilemma, two conspirators are arrested for their supposedly committed crime. In order to extract confessions, an ultimatum is given to them: if the two of them will confess, each of them will have lesser prison time, but if neither, both will serve the prison longer. However, if one of them confesses, the confessor will be free of charges and walk away clean, while the one who keeps mum will have 12 years in prison. Out of self-interest, each of them would want to confess so as to be freed. This will be good news for the prosecutors, but bad news for the prisoners: both of them will be convicted due to confessed crimes. Ultimately, with the presence of a third party that acts as the connection between the two, cooperation would have been established. If only cooperation instead of self-interest was exhibited, both the prisoners would have been able to serve lesser years in prison.  But, realistically speaking, thinking of these clever actions will really be far from realization since under high pressure, it’s human nature to put one’s self first before others (strategy vs. reality). However, this kind of technique will really be useful for crime-busting activities, steroid use, marketing, and the list goes on.  Amazing technique, eh? The Nash equilibrium was also discussed in the first chapter of the book. This concept settles on the idea that the reply of the second player depends on the move of the first one. Hence, this displays the interdependence of things. With careful actions, Nash equilibrium will be equally in favor for all the players in the game, and with this, the best outcome from the Prisoner’s dilemma will surely be achieved.

The second chapter of the book, “I Cut and You Choose”, dwelt on the ideas of minimax and fair division. The concept on fair division can be explained by the slicing of a cake. Despite the temptation (lol) to cut a bigger slice for himself, the cutter, pushing aside his selfishness, will cut equal sizes for the both of them to have fair and equal parts.    The bottom line is, yes, there will always be self-interests. But with its minimization and presence of cooperation, good results are most likely to be reached.  Chapter three, on the other hand, contained the most boggling loopholes in the game theory. These were coined as “the seven deadly dilemmas”, and were summarized using the free rider issue and the chicken game. Chapter four, from which the title of the book is conceived, talks about the famous and very convenient game of rock, paper, and scissors. The reason for the highlight of this game is that it can be used to resolve conflicts. Specifically, this game eliminates bias; hence, in a situation which seems so competitive and no other ways can it be solved, rock-paper-scissors can be the ultimate resolution. Chapters five to eight, furthermore discusses on cooperation, trust and other effective strategies to approach situations and prevent the unpleasant outcome of the Prisoner’s dilemma.  

Overall, this book had been excellent in relaying the message of game theory. Not only that he had covered the grounds of game theory well, but he had also established good connections with the other fields of knowledge, such as economics ad evolutionary biology. The game theory is one of the mathematical concepts that will really be worth to learn and be helpful not only for mathematicians, but also for biologists, politicians, economists, and for the “just-curious”. J    

            Kudos to Len Fisher for she had been successful in creating a masterpiece that is friendly to the eyes and brain cells of common readers!