Inside the Minds of Conscious Game Theorists

Actively implementing strategy in our daily lives…

“The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.”

- Lao Tzu

Thinking, evaluating, analyzing and strategizing- we all have done that at many points in our life, we are all game theorists. But think, how often do we find ourselves doubting our decision and wondering if our actions were right in a particular scenario or not. Dear readers, that is the key difference between a conscious game theorist and an amateur game theorist like we currently are.

Sure, they also regret some decisions, but not as often as we do. Conscious game theorists are much more well aware and conscious while predicting, theorizing and strategizing. Read on to know about how you can hone your strategizing skills- and how Rani Laxmibai could have avoided losing Jhansi to the British.

Let us consider a hypothetical situation (kind of similar to the famous trolley track dilemma, but much gorier than that). You have been abducted by a sadist psychopath criminal and you are his most beloved toy subject: one whom he can’t afford to lose at any cost just to savour the pleasure of torturing you physically and mentally, again. And, there is no way you can take him down alone. This time he has placed you in a very dire situation.

You are in his room sitting on a chair besides his table of tools, having been tortured a countless number of times already. This time in front of you, he has brought a mother and her son whom you know already and he asks you to choose which one shall he kill. The mother signals you to please save her son. The criminal asks you again who would you like to save and tells you that if you don’t answer he shall kill them both. Who will you choose?

I call this the Victim’s Mother-Son Dilemma. Though superficially, it seems that this is a dilemma and there is no way out; but there is actually an answer to this. Who should you choose to be killed? Yourself. If you use the tools beside you on the table to try and kill yourself, the criminal will be forced to abandon his side and save you because he cannot afford to lose you no matter what the cost, remember? The situation will be solved, for now at least.

This trivial seeming dilemma, in fact, teaches us a very important concept. When strategizing and thinking about what the other player can do, we should keep in mind all things and factors which could influence their decisions; specially the choices available to them. This may increase our chances of success by a lot. A very good similar example was in Episode 3 of Season 4 in the BBC Sherlock show.

Eurus Holmes, had her brothers- Sherlock and Mycroft with their friend, John Watson taken as prisoners. They were like her lab rats- she was experimenting on them and putting them under extreme psychological pressures. One of those experiments was that Sherlock had to shoot either his brother, Mycroft who was like a nuisance to him or his dear friend, John who was the person closest to him.

Mycroft reasoned that to pass Eurus’ experiments, they needed “Brain-Power” and hence he would be more useful to Sherlock than John; to which John agrees after noting that Mycroft is correct. Sherlock first pointed his pistol at Mycroft after he mocked him and John. But later, when he gets to know that 5 minutes was all it took for Eurus and Moriarty to come up with this plan, he pointed the pistol at himself. When Sherlock was going to shoot himself, Eurus knocked them out with darts because Sherlock was her prime subject. Unknowingly, Sherlock made a very wise decision.

Here is another real-life example of what can happen if we fail to acknowledge other options. In the recent Russian-Ukrainian War, the country Belarus is showing its full support to Russia against Ukraine, despite the fact that the war is now worsening economic conditions in Belarus. It is even allowing the Russian troops to invade Ukraine from its territory. No one can know what goes inside the country among the high-tables. Perhaps Belarus is counting on Russia to win owing to its military might and then enjoy benefits from its outstanding relations with Russia.

But, considering how unexpectedly well Ukraine has fared in the last one year against Russia, it is now fair to consider the possibility of Ukraine winning, which might backfire Belarus’ propaganda. In such a case, it would be better for Belarus to be ready and take necessary steps for any possible course of action. Instead, if Belarus fails to acknowledge that possibility against its tide then it may result in drastic effects for Belarus.

Next important point to note is that when thinking about what our competitor, the other player will do, we should never assume that he she will surely make the best possible choice for themselves in real life. Of course, they are most likely to opt for that choice and it is always a good thing to be ready for this, but we cannot say that they will choose this strategy for sure.

What if the opponent is not up to the mark and cannot think of the best possible strategy? What I am trying to say is that we should be ready for any strategy they can implement against us. Saying all strategies might be an exaggeration, but for a particular situation, we can step into the opponent’s shoes and take into account most of the strategies they can use.

Improbable is not Impossible. In fact, in many cases, especially those in the detective line of work; most probable is the improbable as surmised by Sherlock Holmes himself in his words:

‘Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.’

- Sir A. C. Doyle (Sherlock Holmes)

This is another reason to consider other strategies. If we don’t, we may also fall victim to something known as the “First Impression Bias”- what we see first may not be the best. Sometimes, we do not even care to think far enough and disregard any other options thinking that we have arrived at our answer; when in fact, going just a bit far can give us much better outcomes and payoffs. This was the reason why Rani Laxmibai lost Jhansi to the British. Let me explain.

Those of you who have seen the movie “Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi” will remember that Rani Laxmibai lost Jhansi because Sadashiv, her brother-in-law helped the British by telling them the location of the weakest spot in Jhansi, from which the land could easily be invaded. This wouldn’t have happened had she taken into account Sadashiv’s actions and it was pretty easy to deduce so, as shown in the below flowchart:

Summarizing, it is fine in theory to consider players as selfish and who just have some fixed courses of action. But in real life, it is important to consider the complexities and act accordingly. We need to be more aware of the options available and factors affecting a certain event. We should be able to imagine ourselves in our object’s place and then think things through to the end. To be a conscious game theorist, we need to:

“Become Conscious of Being Conscious.”

- Eckhart Tolle

REFERENCES:

• https://www.ssatripura.com/countries-supporting-ukraine-russia/#:~:text=Countries%20supporting%20Russia%20in%20the%20war%20with%20Ukraine&text=Belarus%20is%20the%20biggest%20supporter,Nicaragua%2C%20Venezuela%2C%20and%20Kyrgyzstan
• https://www.ankasam.org/the-effect-of-the-russian-ukrainian-war-on-the-belarusian-economy/?lang=en
• Victim’s Mother-Son Dilemma is influenced from Tokyo Ghoul