YOU ARE NOT ALONE (Part 1)
Hmm, this is interesting. It is better to cooperatively retaliate than always screw the other guy or to be screwed by the other guy.
Wow. This is really weird. I can’t even really describe the article. Just go read it yourself. But here is a taste:
The Prisoner’s Dilemma, therefore, is an analogy we use to test the results of how people treat each other(emphasis mine).
Now, if this game is played one time, the winning strategy invariably is to Screw the Other Guy. If he doesn’t screw you, you get off free. If he does, you serve two years. But if you didn’t, and he decided to screw you – ten years. No one wants to risk that. Screw the Other Guy is the only smart position, and when the game is run thousands of times on computers it comes out the very clear winner.
But! What happens if the game is played again and again, against the same person? Does Screw the Other Guy continue to be the best strategy?
It does not!
The best strategy for a repeating game (called the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma) is not Screw The Other Guy, and — surprisingly at first glance — it’s not Always Cooperate With The Other Guy, either.
The winning strategy is Tit-for-Tat. That is, you do to the guy what he did to you last turn. If he cooperated, you cooperate. If he screwed you, you screw him back. Over thousands and millions of computer runs, using every strategy from complete aggression to complete forgiveness, Tit-for-Tat “wins” every time – that is, it results in the least jail time for you.
So a lot of the problems we see in other cultures is an insufficient scope of the interactions. That is, they actors focus on the present interaction, not on the ongoing series of interactions. They focus on the things that are seen (the one-in-the-hand) rather than the things that are not seen (the two-in-the-bush).
This isn’t that easy. This requires more thought…
This last week at Church, we had revival meetings with John Van Gelderen of Preach the Word Ministries. It was a great blessing, even if each night I was convicted of my own short comings. Last night was the last, and even though I was very tired, I was joyful that I had attended.
My Christian walk has not been what it should have been, but my path is clear now, and with the Lord’s strength and grace, I will walk it. I am very grateful that the Lord has been patient with me, a sinner and not worthy of the gifts he has given me.
We went on a hayride today with many of Church members. There were two tractors with hay trailers. I was in the “messy” one. That is, I was in the one with the kids and the throwing of hay. About half-way through the ride, the rain started. Then the thunder and lightning started. Then the hail. Bah.
The rain stopped and sun came out quite literally as we were stopping the tractors at the end of the ride. Isn’t that special?
I had fun. Though, some subversive kids got me in trouble. Apparently, they gave my lovely wife the idea that I am a bully. I just think the kids look better with hay in their hair. Heh.
We had a bonfire, which was nice. It helped dry me out. Many of us looked like we were on fire as the fire heated us up and our clothes dryed with steam coming out.
We had a good fellowship, and good food. So, rain and hail not withstanding, it was a good time. I am glad to be home though, and look forward to a hot shower when my lovely wife is done.
Yesterday, I went to the 5th wedding this year. I have often reflected the day after how blessed I am to have the friends that I do.
[A somber note: During the reception, I had the thought that in other lands, we'd have security, and the chance of terror. That I was (likely) the only person to have that thought is a blessing that I do not want to let go.]
I live a truly blessed life. And these are the happiest times of my life. My wife is pregnant, and tomorrow we got for the first ultra-sound. We have a new house, a wonderful (silly and exasperating) dog, good jobs and a savior that loves us and has redeemed us.
Thank you Lord, for life, for my best friend and wife, for my friends, and, well, everything.
What does concern me is not that people are angry, far from it. I am more concerned that more people are not.
Righteous anger is not evil, not unholy. In many cases in the Bible, God himself, and Jesus, as Son of Man, became demonstratively angry. As God is Perfect, and without Sin, it is a simple proof that anger is not, in and of itself evil or wrong.
Those who lack gentleness can err in one of two ways. Some are irascible: they anger too quickly, for the wrong reasons, or in too implacable a manner. Others are deficient in anger: They are aorgesia, “lacking in spirit.” Such people are blamed, Aristotle notes, because “those who do not get angry at things at which it is right to be angry are considered foolish, and so are those who do not get angry in the right manner, at they right time, and with the right people.”
from September Sentimentality
This pretty much sums it up for me: The anger is righteous, but I am concerned about how best to apply it. Fundementally, I am angry at all despots, where people do not have the freedom of choice, defense or expression.
(I optimisitically think I’m an optimist?)
This belief has been taking a beating lately. I get terribly agitated and depressed about the seeming madness of this world. A young girl is abducted and murdered, a mob kills two men after a traffic accident, a Senator gets a free pass on ethical lapses, both Senate leaders complain about the effort to locate the person respinsible for leaking classified material, and the radical Islamists against the World.
Today at lunch, I saw two kittens sleeping in a pet store window, and for the first time in days, I smiled and thought how beautiful life is. A smile as I think of Opus on a Dandelion Break (obscure Bloom County reference). The weather is, for the first time in seemingly weeks, not opressively hot. The sky is blue, the breeze is nice. My wife is beautiful, and she loves me (even though I am a constant challenge to her sanity and good humor).
Christ reminded us of God’s law to love God with all our heart and all our soul and too love our neighbors as ourselves. All his laws are derived from these to precepts. All sadness in this World is because we are unable or unwilling to do these simple things.
I believe that
- that all people may be redeemed
- point of view does not matter
- there is absolute truth
- for any situation, for any event, there is one right way of responding
- we must defend the lives of the unsaved, wherever they may be
- we must nurture all lives that they may be redeemed in God’s love
- we must take righteous action against the minions spreading evil (a corollary to the previous two beliefs)
But moreover,
I reject
- moral equivalence
Evil exists. It helps no-one to pretend it does not. Or that there is a reason, a justification, a principle, that it is okay to nurture or even accept evil.
- the concept that it is okay to terrorize anyone, guilty or innocent
- the idea that it is okay to kill in the name of religion
- that government action is the answer to most any problem
Game Theory and why it is nice to retaliate.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE (Part 1)
Hmm, this is interesting. It is better to cooperatively retaliate than always screw the other guy or to be screwed by the other guy.
Wow. This is really weird. I can’t even really describe the article. Just go read it yourself. But here is a taste:
So a lot of the problems we see in other cultures is an insufficient scope of the interactions. That is, they actors focus on the present interaction, not on the ongoing series of interactions. They focus on the things that are seen (the one-in-the-hand) rather than the things that are not seen (the two-in-the-bush).
This isn’t that easy. This requires more thought…