The Selfishness of Minds

                The book of Len Fisher, ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’, tells about some social dilemmas an individual face everyday in the society. He lay some possible solutions, which he believes can counteract the effects of the dilemmas not only in the personal level but also to the higher level of humanity. The game theory was proposed to be an answer into understanding one’s self that can lead to preventing such dilemmas to occur.

                In his first chapter, he introduced the concept of Nash’s Equilibrium in which he prefers to call as Nash’s Trap. This theory was proposed by John Nash, a mathematician, before he suffered schizophrenia. Also, in this chapter, the Prisoner’s Dilemma was mentioned where he gave the story of the prisoners, Bernard and Frank, as an example. Both of the prisoners were placed in a situation that made them decide for their own best interest. This example defined the Nash’s Trap in which, it is a theory where a person acts or decides base on what he/she can benefit from it. Some other examples were also given to emphasize the point of this theory and the Prisoner’s Dilemma.

                For the second chapter, the concept of ‘I cut and you choose’ was discussed. He pointed out that to promote cooperation, this strategy can work well. Fairness can be observed in this concept since the other party is let to decide to choose between the two concepts that the other party have decided to make. The principle of Minimax was also mentioned where it was defined as looking at a situation to see how much you might lose and then planning a way to minimize that loss. I personally like this concept because it offers a way to having a choice in a situation in which you are left with no choice but to lose in whichever option you will follow.

                The third chapter consists of the Seven Dilemmas, the author believes to be existing in the society. One of which is the Prisoner’s Dilemma which was discussed in the first chapter, the other six are ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’, ‘The Free Rider’, ‘Chicken’, ‘The Volunteer’s Dilemma’, ‘The Battle of the Sexes’ and ‘The Stag Hunt’. Each of this was discussed by giving examples and life scenarios in which the author was able to observe these dilemmas.

                The Tragedy of the Commons is when an individual thinks of an idea, for instance, buying a food for the week to prevent any long lines in a supermarket for a particular holiday. This concept comes in when other people also have this thought or idea, leading to the massive buyers in the supermarket. The concept of The Free Rider is when an individual take advantage of the resource of the community without contributing to it. An example for this could be the corrupt politicians. They usually keep money from the account of the government, even in such small amounts, thinking that this will not be noticed and could not affect the country’s fund. But then, other politicians might have this same idea leading to a big amount of funds lost. In this way, the politicians were able to benefit with the resource but they did not give back what they have acquired to the community. As for the concept for ‘Chicken’, it is when each party tries to push each other, expecting that the opposite party will back down. An example can be found from the introduction of this book about the one-lane road in which the two cars from different directions tried to pass on the one-lane expecting that the other will move back, giving way to the other car. But due to this thinking of both sides, the other cars start to accumulate on each side of the lane, making traffic in the area. The Volunteer’s Dilemma is when in a particular group, everybody thinks that at least one of them will volunteer to do the task but are not willing to do it themselves. A good example is in a sinking boat where a person must sacrifice itself to save the others. In this scenario, the volunteers lose out. For The Battle of the Sexes, this concept is defined as the differences in the preferences between two people, the book stated an example between a husband and a wife. The husband would want to go to a ball game while the wife wants to go to a movie. Each of them would prefer to leave their preferences to share the other’s so that they can will not go by their own ways. And lastly, The Stag Hunt is about having an alliance that can have a good chance of success with a high-return venture but when an individual goes to its own way of winning, there is a guaranteed winning with lower reward.

                The remaining chapters talked about some ways as to how to prevent the occurrence of such scenarios. These dilemmas do not just affect a personal life but can be expanded to some of the worldwide problems such as the global warming and wars. To prevent such, the author suggested that cooperation is a very important connection between each and everyone. To establish such connection, trust is needed and that selfishness can be eliminated from the minds of the people.

                Overall, the book was fun to read. It can be understandable to everyone and the thoughts of the author were well delivered through his writing. The words he used were simple and easy to comprehend and are not very technical. He established his purpose in the introduction as to why this book was written. It is about the bad situations a person can encounter in their daily lives, and some ways in how to get out of them.

Playing games with reality

            Game theory is commonly known as a branch of mathematics that is concerned with the analysis of strategies in dealing with competitive situations where the outcome of a participant's choice of action depends critically on the action of his/her opponent. The book written by Len Fisher is mainly about game theory and how we mainly use it in our daily lives.

            I myself could really not understand the phenomenon behind game theory because as a personal opinion there are different factors to consider when a person decides during a critical decision. There are a lot of books that talk about game theory however; those books were hard to understand for they are full of mathematical equations and explanations which are off of my interests. Things had changed when I read the book of Fisher for he had explained the book in a manner that non-mathematics lover could understand. His book is flexible to all different preferences of human.

            Game theory is also known to revolve about competitions, contests, battle, match, games and the like which all leads to clashes and contradictions. Fisher used game theory in another way; he used it to provide linkage, relation and cooperation among humans which is the total opposite of the common belief about game theory.

            The introduction of the book had gotten my interest which had leaded me to read the book even faster. The first part of the chapter was a bit boring but it indeed had gotten my interest. The chapter was entitled "trap in a matrix" is mainly about the Prisoner's dilemma and the negative connotation that the Nash equilibrium is a logical trap. There was a matrix shown unfortunately the graphics was poor and a little bit boring. However the content of the book was still interesting which encouraged me to read the rest of the book.

            The second chapter entitles "I cut and you choose" is where the book started to be back on track. This chapter offers a quick and nice introduction to the concepts of minimax and fair division. Fischer used his experience back when he was a child when he got in trouble because he was shooting fireworks and as a consequence he had to yield fireworks with his brother as an anecdote to explain fair division. He realized that what he had done when he was a kid is an answer that he intuitively arrived; this was an example of the minimax principle. He also further discussed the principle of equal division of the contested sum, which I had interest into.

            The third chapter is about the seven deadly dilemmas. This chapter talks about the seven most interesting game theory problems. He pointed out and discussed each problem and provided a little summary of the problems as the rider issue and the game of chicken.

The funniest chapter of his book is the fourth chapter which is about the game rock, paper, scissors. He mentioned that this game is used worldwide in different countries, cultures and races. It is amusing when he mentioned that this game that I usually play; rock, paper, scissors is often used in conflict resolution. I agree with his idea because sometimes in tough decision or when a friend and I are having a dilemma because of contrasting ideas we use rock-paper-scissors to know whose idea would be followed. Fischer explained that the reason is that the game has no pure strategy that dominates the others. The game is commonly played by a person's chance of choosing the right weapon. He mentioned that situations and games that are seem to be at a standstill it can be solved by adding strategies and converting them into rock-paper-scissors.

            The last four chapters of the book mainly talk about the concept of cooperation. It is about how we can achieve trust, bargain effectively, and change the game to avoid the "trap" of the mentioned problem in chapter 1 the Prisoner's dilemma and other unwanted and undesirable outcomes.

            The last 50 pages of the book have a "notes" section. It was an additional part of the book that is full of jokes, random trivia and narratives. This part of the book was fun because different ideas about the game theory are talked about.

            It is amazing how Fischer was able to write a book about a very difficult and complicated topic to the public and still he was able to make his readers to have an ease in reading. I also like his idea about cooperation. He had deviated from the norm which had resulted to give me a new viewpoint about game theory. I like the physiological approach of Fischer in relating and discussing game theory which is easier to understand and more interesting. This book has also given me some lectures about life and how I could apply game theory in my daily life decisions. 

Nature Behind Games: A Book Review on Len Fisher's Rock Paper Scissors

 As more mathematical books are required for us to read, the more I expect that the next one will be more interesting and fun. And, my expectations were met.

            Basically, we judge the book by its cover. We imagine a whole bunch of story lines that could possibly reflect in the book’s pages. Rock, Paper, Scissors. I used to play this when I was a child with my older brother. And yes, he wins every time. I expected that the book will discuss more about mathematical logic. To start with, I was a bit right about my presumptions.

            The book started with a very friendly manner. I, as the reader, was not bombarded with heavy math and heavy logic. The flow was just enjoyable. It informs the reader what game theory is in such a way that one can think it is applicable to all fields in the intellectual and in the practical world. Basically, I learned that it is all about logic and strategies. However, one striking line that caught my attention in the first chapter was “When both sides use the same logic, however, there is never going to be any peace in this world.” My thought about this was political, to be honest. The author then explains that he sticks with the Nash equilibrium. It is about bad outcomes and how to get rid of it. As I read that part, it was where my adventure with this book started.

            Reading through the next chapter, the author introduced the concept of fairness. He reiterated that fairness is innate in us as well as in other life forms. He was creative enough since his technique in this chapter is that he shares his personal experiences for the reader to be able to relate and agree with his points. He then introduced the principle of minimax which is defined in the book as “minimizing your maximum possible loss”. Thus, I have deduced that the title of the chapter “I Cut and You Choose” lies on the principle of minimax since I will be the one to strategize the fair division so as if one chooses a pile, I am rest assured that we will have the same gain. With this, I believe that the author was indeed clever in setting examples so as the readers can interact with the flow of the book, thus, enjoying the whole thing. Shortly in chapter 3, the author discussed the 7 deadly dilemmas and summarized these problems as to how it exists and what are their consequences in return. However, the chapter ended with a generalization that the main point in all these dilemmas is how individuals with different beliefs coordinate without changing their personal principles.

            Now all I thought was that the title of the book wasn’t the game the will be discussed. I thought that it was just a representation of what the book is about – games and game theories. However, in chapter 4, the author investigated the nature of the game rock, paper, scissors. It was really amazing to think that as grown-ups, we all would likely think that the game we used to play when we were young was nonsense. However, the concept of this game ranges to professionals on decision-making. I can deduce from the whole chapter that the peculiarity of this game lies on the fact that it is not characterized by a strategy. Thus, it is nature that maintains the balance in the game, the same way as nature maintains balance in the ecosystem. This concept was said to be beneficial when applied to other games with various problems.

            Chapters 5, 6 and 7 further continue to discuss about cooperation. Indeed, the author had successfully written the chapters in a creative and adaptable way. In this part of the book, I was able to interconnect communication, commitment, negotiation, coalition and other subjects that have been discussed to a united point as a whole. Also, deep understanding was achieved when the author offered brilliant examples such as those communication ways practiced by various organisms as well as common social practices that include coalition and commitment. Furthermore, with his examples, I was able to conclude the fact that these subjects were viewed differently by game theorists. In the latter part, coordination is indeed a key to some principles in the Nash equilibrium. Through coordination, strategies can be discussed to come up and achieve a common goal. Also, it was stated that one could not get out of a trap once he/she uses a different strategy. As for my reflection to this, in the concept of the game theory, we could not only apply these principles in common math and logic but also to communities and social practices outside and inside the academe. It is really overwhelming to know that in every decision made by a group in a research team or other meetings, game theory unconsciously lies.

            The book ended as it deals on changing the nature of the game by introducing new players. Moreover, it has discussed the inclusion of computers as well as the quantum game theory. Quantum game theory, as stated in the book is futuristic and could possibly eradicate the problems in cooperation. Also, the book concluded with tips for individuals to make difference.

            For me, what makes the book unique is its analytical and logical approach to game theory. I myself am always fascinated with strategies and techniques since my older brother used to teach me some of those. Moreover, the book has maintained its substance throughout the coverage of my reading. Information-wise, it is an efficient tool for game theorists as well as individuals to learn logic and principles behind various interactions. 

"When the Game gets tough, the Tough get going"

Game Theory is one of those subjects I only know a little bit about, and this book promised to lead me to understand it with a cheerful, pop-science writing style. In a way, it succeeded, in that it's peppered with personal anecdotes, some of which are quite enjoyable.
But as far as getting me to understand and be enthusiastic about game theory, it failed. I already understand about brinkmanship and the prisoner's dilemma, and how rock-paper-scissors work, so Fisher's descriptions added little. In fact, in some ways, they made it worse. He has several charts which explain the outcomes of various decisions made in the prisoner's dilemma, and, try as I might, I could not make any sense of the charts. Maybe it was a typo? I don't know. I also would have liked to understand the concept of quantum game theory, and about how he came to the numbers of the formula used in the Nash barganing theory. I read the passage over several times, and didn't understand it, which is quite disappointing, as I am neither completely ignorant of game theory nor am I unintelligent. It's just that he assumed we knew what was going on, and skipped past with only the briefest of descriptions.
Another problem I had with this book was the structure. It had numerous footnotes and text blocks that sometimes went on for several pages, forcing me to flip back and forth, and lose my train of thought about what I'd been reading. In short, while the anecdotes were entertaining, they couldn't overcome the fact that Fisher's explanations weren't clear and lucid enough for me.

A non-mathematical discussion of how game theory applies to daily dilemmas and negotiations, this was a surprisingly easy read. Fisher's explanations are consistently clear (no facility with higher math required) and his writing light-hearted and entertaining. From the many examples provided from Fisher's personal life, it seems one invites him to a dinner party at the risk of turning the evening into an experiment in game theory. (Personally, I think that'd be a great way to enliven an evening, but then I spent my last dinner party discussing the implications of the forensic DNA typing I'd performed on one of my guests and her five siblings. My idea of entertainment may be suspect.)

I particularly enjoyed the discussion of computer models as a method for examining which strategies work best for determining the optimal outcome between two (or more) self-interested parties.

I would perhaps have liked a more detailed look at the applications of game theory on a political and global scale. The percentage of the book devoted to introducing the subject and personal exemplars seemed to overwhelm the last couple chapters, which is where Fisher ultimately got around to providing concrete suggestions for daily applications.

But this is a minor nitpick. I'm hoping to track down Fisher's other books as well

Game theory investigates the motives and dilemmas of social interactions relative to selfishness and cooperation. As we understand game theory we can increase our chances of finding satisfying resolutions by adopting new strategies or even by just having a clearer view of social dilemmas and their underlying causes. In his book on the subject, Rock Paper Scissors, Len Fisher gives the following ten tips:

1. Keep the same strategy if you’re winning, shift strategies if you lose.
2. Bring a third player in. They can be a known negotiator or a known cheater – either way it helps.
3. Set up reciprocity. Knowing that you’ll deal with people after a conflict can increase the incentive to cooperate.
4. Limit future options or provide incentives. This shows that you are committed to the best possible outcomes.
5. Offer trust. It’s simple, but it can be effective.
6. Create a situation from which neither party can escape from without loss.
7. Use side-payments to maintain cooperation.
8. Know the seven deadly dilemmas and avoid the worst outcomes:
a. The Prisoner’s Dilemma – all must cooperate or all fail.
b. The Tragedy of the Commons (a series of Prisoner's Dilemmas) –self-interest prevents cooperation despite impending long-term failure. 
c. The Free Rider problem - people taking advantage of a community resource without contributing to it.
d. Chicken/Brinkmanship - each side tries to push the other as close to the edge as they can, with each hoping that the other will back down first. 
e. The Volunteer’s Dilemma - someone must make a sacrifice on behalf of the group, but if no one does, then everyone loses out. 
f. The Battle of the Sexes - two people have different preferences, but each would rather share the other's company than pursue their own preference alone.
g. Stag Hunt - cooperation between members of a group gives them a good chance of success in a risky, high-return venture, but an individual can win a guaranteed but lower reward by breaking the cooperation and going it alone.
9. Work to create transparent processes that are inherently fair.
10. Favor smaller groups, it’s easier to foster trust and cooperation

Game theorists wanted!

Each time I make a book review, I made it a point to research on the meaning of the topic it will discuss. In this new book review, curiously entitled “Rock, Paper, Scissors” written by Len Fisher, the topic is about a yet another branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of strategies for dealing with competitive situations where the outcome of a participant's choice of action depends critically on the actions of other participants. Interestingly, this topic has been applied to contexts in war, business, and biology. I welcome you to the niche of game theorists.

But actually, the plot twist is that the author is also trying to understand this subject as he was writing about it in this book. It’s amazing how he constructed the studies he found into explanations common people could surely understand. His work doesn’t talk like a boring professor, although I noticed the first parts as dryly introduced. While other books focused on its depth and complex meanings, this book on the other hand connects you in a way that you could easily understand as the author himself also discovers how game theory made interplay with everyday situations and suggests several strategies for achieving cooperation.

The first chapter, “Trapped in a matrix”, started off by describing the Prisoner’s dilemma and gives us the idea that the Nash equilibrium is a logical trap, in a negative way. There are matric graphics but the fun wasn’t really unveiled until the next chapter.

The second chapter, “I cut and you choose”, introduced us to the concepts of minimax and fair division. He offered us a story about fair division like how he met trouble as a child shooting fireworks and consequently yield fireworks with his brother. This is due to application of minimax principle as Fisher’s realization. Impressively, he discussed also the principle of equal division of the contested sum.

Chapter three is about “the seven deadly dilemmas” as the author named it. Here Fisher offers a great summary of such problems as the free rider issue and the game of chicken. The first is the Prisoner’s dilemma while the other six includes the tragedy of the commons, the free rider problem, chicken (also known as Brinkmanship), the volunteer’s dilemma, the battle of the sexes and the stag hunt. In this chapter’s introduction, the author said that these dilemmas are the same in a sense. Huh, you don’t say.

Chapter four turned out to be really fun as it tackles about the titular game. I’m surprised how rock, paper and scissors is also the same as the other games I already know and how it can be used in conflict resolution. The reason is that the game has no pure strategy that dominates the others. Hence situations and games can be solved by adding strategies and converting them to rock-paper-scissors situations.

At the last four chapters, it’s all about cooperation, cooperation, cooperation and cooperation respectively. Good thing he doesn’t get tired of writing down the same essence of this topic in four chapters. And yet, we know cooperation would take more than just four chapters for us to fully understand its mechanism. It teaches us how we can achieve trust, bargain effectively, and change the game to avoid the “trap” of the Prisoner’s dilemma and other undesirable outcomes. He complimented it with humorous narratives and cool exemplary samples from the fields of science.

His conclusion was dramatically awesome since he really pointed out how he finally discovered game theory in his journey of finding out how it could affect our world’s present social status. I don’t even know if he’s lying or not about having no clear knowledge about this topic. Anyway, he concluded that game theory can add to our chances of resolving such problems in two main ways:

1. By helping us to view them from a new perspective that exposes their true underlying causes, and

2. By providing new strategies to help us resolve them.

“This is not to say that game theory provides complete answers, but it provides strategies that can often help to tip thedelicate balance between cooperation and conflict.”

He listed out 10 tips for cooperation in our daily lives.

Ø  Stay if you win, shift if you lose.

Ø  Bring an extra player in.

Ø  Set up some form of reciprocity.

Ø  Restrict your own future options so that you will lose out if you defect on cooperation.

Ø  Offer trust.

Ø  Create a situation that neither party can independently escape from without loss.

Ø  Use side payments to create and maintain cooperative coalitions.

Ø  Be aware of the seven deadly dilemmas, and try to reorganize the benefits and costs to different players so that the dilemma disappears.

Ø  Divide goods, responsibilities, jobs, and penalties so that the result is envy free.

Ø  Divide large groups into smaller ones.

‘Game theory adds extra dimensions by showing just why and how they work in different circumstances. Some can seem quite counterintuitive, and these have emerged directly from game theory itself. It should also be recognized that they are only a start. Game theory is a young science; it is advancing rapidly now, and we will continue to see advances in the years to come. One direction in which those advances are already occurring is through the use of complexity theory, which deals with complex systems, such as society as a whole, rather than breaking them down into smaller units that are easier to think about and analyze. Complexity theory is now beginning to address some of the social dilemmas identified by game theory.’

Overall, I was overwhelmed at how such a small game can truly affect the problems we are facing now. It actually has more to offer. Once again, game theory came out as a mathematical perspective and another species of mathematical origin has then again thrived to save the world in its pursuit of a better world when games abound in bigger dimensions we never did imagine. Game theorists wanted! The world of mathematics only proves to be so much darker, and so much madder, and so much better.

Play The Game Right!

A Book Review

"Opting out can actually promote cooperation among those who have chosen not to opt out." page 98 of Rock, Paper, Scissors by Len Fisher

I totally agree with this quote. Suppose there are many teams playing in one game.. Once someone from one team decides to leave the game, this will urge his or her teammates to work more and be more cooperative, boosting each other's determination and will to continue. This is because when you know you might lose an advantage, you will really work hard to get your team together and aim to double your efforts to match the other opponents. It doesn't matter if you're outnumbered, as long as everyone cooperates and moves as a team. And when this happens, you're no different from the other teams with complete players. That's one of the keys to succeed in any game..

This is a book by a Physicist and a Noble-Prize winner, Len Fisher. Wow, the moment I've read his credentials, I knew this was going to be a good read. I was really excited to start the book. I wanted to know how he writes. I wanted to delve into the work of a Noble-Prize winner. Since he was a child, he already have had his experience with Game Theory. He also had his share of personal experiments involving it. To give you a small detail about this theory; it actually is a Science of cooperation. I enjoyed reading this book - not too much though, but just right. Why, you may wonder? Here it goes...

Based on the book, game theory was developed in 1940. It is about the decisions people make when they are in a difficult and a challenging situation - especially when they have a little knowledge about the other involved players' choices. It presents that a presence of a powerful third player/gamer would promote better endings for all players. But of course, it still depends with other factors, both external and internal. Another definition to better understand this is; it is a study of carefully-planned decisions in situations where the results of the carefully-laid plans solely depend on the other players' strategic plans. Game Theory also looks on how we prioritize personal gain in these hard situations, reflecting our behavior. It is applicable in any field, and in any instance. It was mentioned in the book that it can also be applied in Evolutionary Biology! Wow, interesting.. something to match with my course.

However, the first chapter wasn't really that much inviting. It only gives us a background of the Nash equilibrium and the Prisoner's dilemma. 

As Fisher would like to put it; the Nash equilibrium is present in every challenging situation - in which one player can't possibly change his move without actually causing damage to the other players. Fisher went on to explain that situations can be altered and arranged so that the Nash equilibrium will be the best possible outcome for everyone. Next, the Prisoner's dilemma. It is an example of an analysis of Game Theory that can be applied in various situations. It is a made-up situation wherein there are two suspects arrested for something they have probably (still not sure) committed. The dilemma comes in when they could have cooperated so that they'd both receive less punishment. But because they are both overtaken with self-interest that fuels MORE than cooperation, they will both end up confessing (since they assumed that when one confesses, he/she would be free, while the other would suffer for 12 years for not confessing). This mentality will consequently lead to their confessions, and because of this, both of them shall serve an unwanted outcome - to serve a longer sentence. If they could have just planned it ahead that neither of them would confess, they should only serve for a short time.

While this is a good plan, it's also kind of tricky and hard to accomplish in real-life situations. Because once you're in that kind of challenging situation, only the mentally-focused can think of a plan like that. Most likely, other people would panic and think of themselves first especially when they are in a crucial situation that can affect their lives.

Fisher cannot present the solution to human competitiveness, and I guess no one can, but he tried to dig in how norms and our perceptions can alter the game, focusing more on cooperations rather than on competitions. However, again, this is a hard task, depending on the people involved. I have experienced being boosted up solely by competitiveness and I think when it really gets to you, you just can't put yourself to cooperate with the other players to provide a different outcome, especially with no any assurance. As humans, we're driven by our strong impulses and our beliefs, and these are pretty hard to control and suppress.

Fisher implies that one move out of self-interest may actually benefit you, but would be crucial to others. Thus, if this statement is realized, you could actually make your self-interest not a priority and you could start cooperating. Fisher also wrote about the seven deadly dilemmas which include the game of chicken (which I find amusing). The deadly dilemmas mentioned are very interesting Game Theory problems, which you can learn from, a lot. I like Chapter Four the best, it's where the title of the book comes to life. Rock, paper, and scissors is a game known all over the world, it's present in almost everyone's childhood, and it's very entertaining. The chapter showed that this game can actually help resolve a conflict. This is because it doesn't permit any advantage to anyone, avoiding bias - that is why this is used in situations where it seems like there is no other way for all the players to resolve a problem. Most of the chapters tackled about cooperation, trust, and more - giving emphasis on ways to change the game to avoid the Prisoner's dilemma. On the other hand, the quantum mechanics part was somehow a drag. It could have been cut out from the book in my opinion.

To try to give examples using real-life solutions, Fisher presented various games like the one from Chapter Two; entitled I Cut and You Choose. It tackles about fair division, showing how one's self-interest can be observed but in another turn, can lead to the path of cooperation. As seen in the example: when a person cuts two pieces from a cake, the other would choose a piece he/she wants. And if assuming the cutter likes eating cake, he/she would have to make and cut the pieces of cake into equal halves, to ensure they'd get equal pieces and no one gets more nor less. However, there are situations where you can't just easily apply this. You have to consider the parameters included in the situation. In some of his examples, Fisher only used the ideals and somehow failed to present the other possibilities. But you know, who am I to judge his work? This is only my opinion. Haha.

I would like to meet Fisher; if not in this life, maybe in another, or in another dimension and timespace. Haha. Whatever. Okay, going back..

This is a very entertaining and informative book. It's really great and is recommended for business/economics students. This book is also for both familiar and unfamiliar of the concepts of Game Theory. There are many examples and explanations, so if you just read this really carefully and digest it with pleasure, you sure would appreciate it. The end notes were very enjoyable with trivias and jokes, it supported the book and backed it up with further references. I really liked it. Fisher, through this book. showed that Game Theory is important and can also be understandable. He also showed that Math is really incorporated with the things we do everyday..

Game Theory is something we could use as a guide in understanding behavior towards self-interest and personal gain, rather than its supposed-to-be use as something to direct us what to do in difficult situations.

Theories in Life

“Rock, Paper, Scissors is a refreshingly informal as well as insightful account of key ideas in game theory.Len Fisher gives many examples, several from his own life, of games that pose harrowing choices for their players. He shows how game theory not only illuminates the consequences of these choices but also may help the players extricate themselves from situations likely to cause anger or grief.”

—Steven J. Brams, New York University, author of Mathematics and Democracy

The statement of praise mentioned above nicely summarizes the book ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ that was written by the brilliant author Len Fisher. The author made the book appealing that surely goes in to the taste of the teen society, and most importantly to the student body. The way she informally wrote this book definitely captured my attention. Plus, the addition of insightful accounts in relation to the game theories tackled in each of the chapters made me appreciate the author more. 

This book functions as a science book which appropriately presented the connection between the game theory and the everyday situations, and then introduces several strategies in order to attain and achieve cooperation.

At first, I find the book a little bit lagging in its first chapter. It’s like I was moving in a, somehow, slow pace given that this “trapped in the matrix” chapter only described the Prisoner’s dilemma, and then gave the negative connotation that the Nash equilibrium is a logical trap. This Nash equilibrium was defined in the book as “if each party has chosen a strategy, and no party can benefit by changing his or her strategy while the other parties keep theirs unchanged, then that set of strategy choices and the corresponding payoffs constitute a Nash equilibrium”. Even though I find this a little bit off, the ideas presented are far more important than the momentary lag phase that I somehow felt. And most importantly, the interesting examples and explanations were really fascinating that made me scroll each pages of the book fondly.

I agree to the introductory statement presented in the “I cut and you choose” second chapter of the book. Our whole childhood was all about playing specifically to have fun. To feel free and laugh as much as possible without minding the universe. We are totally driven by a sense of fairness. Even carrying this sense into adulthood as a sense of justice. With these powerful forces that drive our everyday existence, cooperation is possible to achieve and be maintained in all its fairness. This chapter discussed on the minimax principle as well as the principle of equal division. These principles promotes strategies for the common good. As he was discussing these principles, he was basically sharing his unforgettable moment as a kid in relation to fireworks.

The highlight of the book’s third chapter is the seven deadly dilemmas. The first one is the Prisoners’ dilemma, which was tackled on the previous chapter of the book. The other deadly dilemmas include the strategy of the commons, the free rider problem, the chicken game, the volunteer’s dilemma, the battle of the sexes, and of course the stag hunt. All of the dilemmas presented unraveled the idea saying that cooperation would produce the best overall outcomes.

All the dilemmas mentioned feature the events which are happening in the real life. Out of the dilemmas mentioned, my attention was captured by the 3rd, 4th, and 5th dilemmas. The Free Rider, as mentioned in the book, arrises when people take advantage of a community resource without contributing to it. This definitely exists at the present time. People, mostly in the business sector of the community tend to exploit resources that are of great value. They benefit from these resources without extending human efforts to propagate or to take good care of the existing resources. And the Chicken dilemma, which exists when a particular side tries to push another side as close to the edge as they can, and hoping that the other side will back down first. Competition, in this present society is really active. People tend to compete in order to elevate their status, some would get what they want and some would also eventually fall down. And then the other is the Volunteers dilemma, and this is definitely happening in my academic life. In every group activity, I would really hope that someone would volunteer theirselves in order to spare me some of the brainstorming activities, though I know its not fair. But then, if no one would happily volunteer, then the group would fall apart and eventually loses. At this particular point in time, based on instincts, either me or my group mates would answer as much as possible in order to save the rest of the group. 

In the fourth chapter, it was all about the game “rock, paper, scissors”. This particular game is known globally, though existed in some parts of the world under various other names. The game itself requires no pure strategy. This game is by nature presents a situation in which no one strategy can ever dominate the others. With the principle behind, situations and games, particularly in relation to the free-rider dilemmas, can be solved by simply adding strategies then convert them to rock-paper-scissors situations.

The chapters five through eight tackled about the idea of cooperation. It’s all about trusts, bargains, changing games to avoid the Prisoner’s dilemma, and some other undesirable outcomes. The chapters also provided some insightful narratives and some other interestingly scientific examples.

The “Notes” section at the end part of the book totally made me appreciate the book more. This is one of the best parts of the book. This section contains some narratives, insightful trivia as well as funny jokes. Running through this part is definitely one of the best things that I did during the course of my reading. 

All in all, I find this book “Rock, Paper, Scissors” fascinating, very insightful, and most definitely informative. The author really knows how to capture the attention of the readers and totally hook them in reading the book page-by-page. I really like it that he introduced some real-life examples, some are his, and scientific facts in presenting the game theories. Reading this book totally made me realize some things, and some of those things need to be addressed immediately.