Bringing Balance to The Force?

<begin log 216043>

I want to try something a little different. A story. I want to use the story to demonstrate something that’s been demonstrated mathematically in simulations many times.

Everything that proceeds is made up on the spot with no attempt to mentally organize it first. I obviously apologize. I’m just not sure if I’m being sincere. :)

Let There Be Light

We find ourselves on a new world. Two worlds, actually. A fantastical world within a pocket realm with two realities sitting parallel to each other. The world is called Glomus. For our purposes, one reality is Glomus-1, the other is Glomus-2.

Glomus branch 001 of infinite alternatives (Glomus-1)

On Glomus-1, there lives a remarkable little creature called a Glome. Glomes are like fairy-folk, little winged humanoids. Little winged humanoids but with one strange deformity: Their arms cannot bend in a way that reaches the back of their heads. So if anything were to lodge itself on the back of a Glome’s head, it would need the assistance of another Glome to remove it.

There are six Glomes within the society of Glomus-1. These six Glomes broadly fall into two categories: Gramps who are utterly selfless, often to the point of naivete, and Grumps who are utterly selfish, often to the point of being psychopathic.

One key thing about Glome society is that one doesn’t talk about Grump or Gramp aspects. That just wouldn’t be polite or civilized. So no one really knows who a Grump or Gramp is.

One day, Glomus-1 is infested by an invasive species of parasite. This parasite latches on to the back of a Glome’s head, and begins to suck the life out of them. A Glome can live for two cycles with an attached parasite before it dies. While attached, the parasite is at most a pain in the gleeb (that’s arse in Glome-speak), but otherwise harmless until the last moment.

With Glome society infested, we see one particular Glome, a Gramp as it turns out, proceed to seek help in removing the parasite from its head. In cycle 1, the Gramp approaches a group of Glomes and picking one at random, asks for assistance. In this pocket realm, probabilities are very straightforward and the universe works in simple ways.

This means that of the remaining five Glomes, two of them are likely to be Gramps, while three are likely to be Grumps. If the Gramp meets another Gramp, said Gramp will help him immediately and ask for help in return. If it meets a Grump, the Grump will demand help, and then in return, will merely laugh and laugh and walk away.

The first Glome it approaches immediately says it will help, but first our Gramp should help it. So our Gramp removes the parasite and turns around so that the Glome can help. Instead of help, from behind its back, our Gramp hears laughter. Damn, it met a Grump.

On the second cycle, our little Gramp is optimistic. “Okay, so maybe the other Glome was having a bad day. Or maybe he misunderstood.” He thinks to himself. (I’ve decided our little Gramp is a he, and his name is Bob). “Not to worry, I have a whole cycle to remove this parasite. I’m sure someone will help me! I’m feeling a little weak, but gosh golly this cycle’s gonna be great. I can feel it. Still, perhaps I should try a different Glome.”

Poor naive Bob. As he approaches a new batch of Glomes he has no idea that it’s now a coin flip. Ignoring the original Glome he helped, he now has a two in four chance of picking a Grump, and much the same of picking a Gramp.

He chose wrong. Bob dies.

This cycle countinues until The society of Glomus-1 is all Grumps. They don’t trust each other at all. They each demand to be helped first and cannot trust each other whatsoever to give the benefit of the doubt. The whole society is now sure they’re all Grumps (though they still won’t talk about it in polite society), and they’ve all witnessed the destruction of their Gramp brethren.

Ultimately, they only get at most two cycles to think about it before their civilization is wiped out. Along with the parasites who no longer have any food. Glomus-1 reality is silent

Glomus branch 002 of infinite alternatives (Glomus-2)

Glomus-2 is… different. At some point in the early creation of this pocket realm, a point of branching possibilities occurred and a parallel reality came into being. This choice made a strange change to Glome society.

Glome society on Glomus-2 had nine Glomes instead of six. Social mores were largely the same and the same broad groups existed, except now there was a third group. A strange group that acted a little differently from the other groups. Let’s call them Grimps.

Grimps, unlike the selflessly naive Gramps and the selfishly psychopathic Grumps, are decidedly neutral. Grimps are largely selfish, some more than others, but they take no particular pleasure in harming other Glomes. In fact, they’re just as happy to help out another Glome as the Gramps are, but demand to be helped first just like the Grumps, and would lose no sleep over not helping you if you refuse.

Glomus-2 has the same invasive species and the Glomes are forced into the same dilemma as the Glomus-1 society. Let’s follow a Grump this time.

This Grump, also a he, is named Chad. *As an aside, isn’t Chad just the WORST? Except for Chad L. Coleman, has there ever been a Chad who wasn’t a jerk?*

Chad needs help with his parasite, but Chad is a jerk who doesn’t really feel like helping anyone. He figures he has it pretty good. You see, of the 8 other Glomes, three of them are likely to be Gramps who would help him at the drop of a dime. Chad wouldn’t help them though. They’re weak. This is the Ganth, only the strongest Groods survive. (Ganth is jungle and Grood is wolf, in Glome-speak. Also, Chad is an idiot. Wolves don’t live in jungles, CHAD. No one likes you, CHAD. BURN IN HELL, CHAD!).

Anyway, another three are Grimps. Chad thinks Grimps are weird. They almost seem like Grumps like him, and they demand to be helped first, which is suspicious. But he’s observed that if you just demand right back, they’ll eventually help you first. Weak. Just like Gramps. Worse because they waste your time.

The final two are Grumps. No help at all. So, six out of the other eight and Chad is good to go. This is going to be easy. Chad’s first Glome turns out to be a Grimp. Some haggling, but he helps Chad. And then Chad walks out on him just like a bloody Chad would.

I’ll save you the multiple cycles but eventually Chad notices that there seem to be more Grumps than usual. He goes to a few Glomes that he thought were Grimps because he worked with them before, and no amount of haggling will get them to help him. And because they’re clearly not trying to help him, he certainly won’t let his guard down and help them first. What do they think he is, some kind of bloody weak-gleeb Gramp? Fuggetaboutit.

This process replicates for all Grumps. Eventually, from the standpoint of a Grump there are two other Grumps, and three Grimps who act like Grumps, and three Gramps. So five Grumps and three Gramps. Meanwhile, to a Gramp, there are two other Gramps, three Grimps who act like Gramps, and three Grumps.

The Grumps now live in a society where they’re overwhelmingly likely to meet Grumps, and so they begin to die off. The Gramps live in a society where they’re overwhelmingly likely to meet Gramps, so they persist. And the Grimps continue to do what they gotta do. (which… umm… is being Gramps to Gramps and Grumps to Grumps, in case you’re not following anymore).

Over time Glomus-2 society becomes essentially all Gramps and Grimps, with occasional Grumps holding on, or with Grimps occasionally acting like Grumps.

Glomus-2 survives and continues to develop. They eventually create powerful technology or magic or whatever and enter another reality that’s empty, they call it Glomus-alt (because obviously they consider themselves Glomus-prime), and… I’m totally over this story at this point. moving on.

Good and Evil

So, what have we learned? In Glomus-1, we have a society with a clear good and evil. The two are equally numbered, so you’d expect it to be balanced, but instead the society is wiped out. First evil thrives by devouring good, and then, out of good to devour, it starves to death (figuratively speaking about this metaphor?).

In Glomus-2, we have good and evil, but we have a third faction. A faction of reciprocators. Let’s call them the just. The good, the evil, and the just. The just are capable of being either as needed. They act good to the evil, and when the evil mistreats them, they act evil to them.

This overly simplistic society leans over time toward good. A more complex society would be just that, complex. But the point I seem to be making (seriously, I just work here, I don’t tell me anything), is that a society made up of cooperators and non-cooperators is doomed to die. A society made up of cooperators, non-cooperators, and reciprocators is much more likely to survive, and will favor cooperators and reciprocators as the chief survivors.

We see this throughout nature. Species that either cooperate, reciprocate, or both are the ones that survive the longest. Non-cooperators tend to thrive at the cost of cooperators at first, and then very quickly crater. Reciprocators become the largest population.

It’s observations like this that make me comfortable with the idea that “morality” and “altruism” are coded right into our physiology. The obsession with the need for a higher power or otherwise external force to grant moral authority ignores the fact that even the basest animals are capable of moral and altruistic behavior. In fact, it almost seems like the more intelligent the species, the more capable it is of working around a base need to be altruistic to the in-group.

It’s almost like we have a part of our (presuming healthy) brain, let’s call it the cerebral cortex for lulz, that allows us to override our instincts and do things counter to our baser drives. A part that constructs stories to allow ourselves to rationalize non-cooperation or non-reciprocation.

“that group believes bob makes it rain, but it’s really chad. they’re less than human and I absolutely shall not help them. In fact, I shall kill them in the name of chad. Oh, sure, killing is bad, but only if chad doesn’t like it. And chad will always forgive me if I ask. Also, chad says bob doesn’t even exist, so really, i’m doing them a favor.”

*smh* Bobdamnit, Chad! Even your people act like Chads.

Granted, this part of the brain may also allow us to override our more uncivilized urges, but it’s not like nature or evolution walks around with a clipboard checking off good and evil columns.

But nah, that’s just nonsense. What am I even talking about? Carry on.

Onward and such, etc.

</end log 216043>

P.S. No facts or truths have been stated in this post. No point was actually made either. Anything derived from this is fallacy at best. The argument may be correct or it may not be. More suspicious is that, without anything factual or empirical it sounds right. These can often be the most dangerous mistakes. You fail to question them because they seem believable. Treat this as a random idiot thinking out loud.

P.P.S I literally just learned that P.S. stands for Post Scriptum or Post Script. Obvi in hindsight. Whaaaaa?