War Game... not!

In the 1980s I was sooo tired of fighting difficult people at work, a domineering mother, preteen kids I was raising alone, a crazy ex-wife and a pain-in-the-butt significant other, that I began my dissertation based upon an article and collaborative experiment at Scientific American magazine. It was on the opposite of War Games. The magazine asked readers to submit their solutions to a one-on-one transaction problem that gave points to benefit societal win-win cooperation. Geek readers submitted all kinds of complex and esoteric solutions but the one that won was simple, and the field of Game Theory was blessed with Nice, Clear, Procable and Forgiving.

This one-on-one transaction scenario, the cooperative version of what is unfortunately called The Prisoner's Dilemma, deals with an exchange between two entities. For example, as when buying an item over the internet, three outcomes are possible. Hopefully the buyer gives his credit card information and the seller sends buyer the requested item, in which case both win, and both buyer and seller get two points each. The second possible outcome is where the buyer sends credit card information but the seller does not send the item, therefore the seller wins three points and the buyer zero. The third possible outcome is where the buyer sends a fraudulent payment but the seller sends the item, and the buyer wins three points and the seller gets zero. Seem familiar?

Key is that, overall, a win-win nets more total points to society than that of the other two outcomes, and that there is a clearly demarcated start and end to the transaction, which is iterated multiple times.

The solution was to be Nice, Clear, Provocable and Forgiving...

   - Nice: My entity starts "nice" (whether buying or selling) in the first transaction, trusting... the honeymoon.

   - Clear: Both entities are aware of (but don't have to agree to) this solution/rules.

   - Provocable: When either buyer or seller screws the other, at the next transaction the loser screws the winner.

   - Forgiving: Then everything is forgiven, with no rancor and no grudge held, to start fresh at the following transaction.

Such a simple and naive set of rules couldn't possible win, you say? It did, over a Kalman Filter based Estimation Theory solution and every other engineer/scientist's submission, which were numerous.

When I used it, what it did was to regiment or train me to follow a wining procedure... sort of like dog obedience classes actually train the owner, not the dog.

When used, this solution works great in dating, but, unfortunately, this one-on-one format does not conform well to marriage, since marriage does not have individual transactions with clearly demarcated start and end, but is a continuous form. It also works good with acquaintances, friends and family. The work situation is mixed, not one-on-one, so only part of the work environment benefits from using this solution.

Since formulated, this solution has spread like wildfire in the interested technical and psychological communities, with extensions attempted for one-on-many couplings, blurred start/ends, and other interesting situations.

This solution worked for me before, and I now need it again, so I've brought out my figurative brass knuckles.

- © 2009 by Willy