BOOK REVIEW
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ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS
Game Theory in Everyday Life
Dr. Len Fisher
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The title of the book is a simple
yet popular game that I know most of us had already encountered or most likely played
often during our childhood years. It’s so funny how from this very basic concept,
the author Dr. Len Fisher, was able to come up with certain explanations on the
behavior or way of thinking of people especially during instances when they
are in the middle of competitive situations.
Most of the ideas cited by the author were just neglected
in real life and thought of as “not so important matters” for us to bother
ourselves, but as one would continue reading the book as I did, sudden
realizations would really make one think twice and discover the ugly truths
happening around us that really affect our lives in totality.
One example of these very common scenarios is
cheating, in which even a plain student had resorted to when he or she didn’t know
the answer yet wanted a high score for competition purposes. As this acquired attitude
was utilized to its fullest, this led to more intense applications that went as
far as national and worldwide concerns. This then had a so-called “domino
effect” on the lives of people from different places passed on from generation
to generation that even the thought of having this “cured” was already near to
impossible.
This was all so due to competition which
originated a long time ago. It existed, is existing and will exist whenever the
situation calls for it. In this world, and in our everyday lives, there is
always competition and so accompanied with the survival of the fittest which is
then the basis of the development of human interactions and strategies. The
author’s mind would really have been this deep to be able to scrutinize all
aspects in life in which what the author referred to as the Game Theory. Humans tend to step on another in order to get
what he or she wants; in such a way that that person would be the better competitor
than the other. I felt that this version had some kind of relation or connection
to our very own Filipino negative characteristic which was the “crab mentality”;
a proof that this had somewhat of an occurrence in different customs or
practices around the world.
The author of this book proposed
some ways on how to develop and maintain cooperation within us, people, in
which the start would be to change oneself (most emphasized and recommended
point or idea) before anything else. He believed that after we solve this
missing link to better view and approach towards life, the rest would follow
which would include the resolution of almost all of the social dilemmas and
conflicts.
As the author aimed to, I was able
to understand the complexity of life that revolved around the Game Theory. I
hope that other people would also realize the importance of fair divisions in
everything we choose to do. Let us not take what was not intended for us and
instead, learn to be contented in what we have.
Although the author was not able to
cite the effects of understanding the Game Theory in details with regards to
the huge social problems he mentioned, a clear and better understanding of the
Game Theory within our lives was already enough for me. I still salute the
author for being able to relay the message of change to all of us. I recommend
that more and more people would patronize these kinds of books that may not be
so essential for some but may really affect our lives in a large perspective.
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