To Play the Game (Hello World)
I’ve always been a pretty logical person. As an Economics major also studying Mathematical Finance, having a logical mindset is something that I’m pretty much forced to develop and utilize both in-and-outside of the classroom. There’s no room for a personal, passionate touch in my work; it’s strictly this straight-up, rigid, rational reasoning that’s allowed. For example, I recall some instances in my own personal life where I’ve come up with a set of possible scenarios which could occur if we said something to a someone (how they would feel, react, et cetera) and how I would in turn react to each of those outcomes. It’s called overthinking, and we’ve all fallen victim to it. Now, you’re probably wondering what I’m trying to allude to here. There’s actually an academic subject based around this idea, where intelligent subjects interact with one another in a strategic way such that they obtain their most desired outcomes, and as an Econ major with a strong math background, I think that’s dope as fuck. It’s called game theory, and it can be defined as “the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation between intelligent rational decision-makers”. But we won’t talk about the math side of the subject until later.
In a practical capacity, it’s mostly used in economics, political science (political economy, voter choice, war bargaining), computer science (artificial intelligence bruh), and biology, but we also see it almost everywhere else.As I pointed out earlier, we all utilize tactics of game theory to a certain extent. Here’s a picture that gives a simple example of what game theory is about:
In case you don’t get it immediately, the image here shows four silly-looking, personified strands of DNA playing video games. One strand is hogging the single video game controller, but is having a hard time winning in the game or something. The other three strands of DNA, understandably tired of waiting and wanting to play (some of us can relate), proceed to be assholes and give the controller-hog false advice with hopes that he’ll lose or whatever and they’ll be closer to getting their chance to play the video game. On the other hand, if they gave him actual, genuine advice, he would presumably have less of a chance of dying or whatever in the game and would hog the controller for god-knows-how-much-longer. This is game theory in practice, with the scenario being presented in the picture, the possible actions being to help or hurt the controller-hog, and the possible outcomes being that the hog gives up the controller sooner or later based on which action the other DNA strands choose to take. Also note how the struggling controller-hog of a DNA strand is struggling to “survive,” giving the hint that he probably won’t last long. Really, the image is a just metaphor for natural selection and how game theory plays into evolutionary biology.
But recall how commonly game theory is used (and observed, if you have the eye for it) in the world around us. We see it incessantly during political elections and poker tournaments. We see it We see it on TV; it’s entirely what House of Cards revolves around and is literally the titular subject of Game of Thrones for crying out loud. What interests me most about game theory is that we have people using it to an almost frightening degree, whether they call it game theory, simple strategizing, or something else, much to how the aforementioned TV dramas suggest. Think politicians, economists and business leaders, entertainment celebrities, you name it. People in search for power, to advance their careers, or maybe even to deliberately help or hurt others. They all play the game to achieve their most desired outcomes, and as Cersei from Game of Thrones points out, “When you play the game… you win or you die.”
