What happens
when a group of four single guys sitting in a bar finds a phenomenally
beautiful girl entering along with her 4 moderately beautiful friends? All the
guys go for the most beautiful girl with their basic instincts, decreasing the
probability of getting that girl to 25% for each.
But a brilliant
guy sitting at the bar comes up with an incredible idea and changes the rule of
the game itself. He suggests an option
that will make all of them a winner.
Option A: Everyone tries
to talk the most beautiful girl; only one of them gets to talk to the girl and rests
of the guys sit at bar whining. L
Option B: None tries to
reach out to the most beautiful girl and tries to talk to one the moderately
beautiful girls; everyone gets to talk to a girl and all are winners. J
Amazing right? This
idea is based on a concept called Nash equilibrium which has been used widely
in the game theory, with the premise that the competition between two opponents
is not necessarily governed by zero-sum logic. In simpler words, in any
competition there does not have to be a one-winner-rest-losers situation if all
do what is good for the group and not just good for himself.
Another famous
example of this concept is ‘Prisoner’s dilemma’ explained below:
Two prisoners have following choices in the interrogation:
Option 1: None confess = each one get 2 years
of jail time
Option 2: One of them confesses = the one who
confessed gets 1 year of jail while the other gets 10 years of jail time
Option 3: Both confess = each of get 5 years
of jail time
So logically,
they both can be in a win-win situation by not confessing but in spirit of
decreasing self’s jail time, they might be tempted to confess and end up with
more jail time for each other.
Next time when
you find yourself in such situation, don’t forget that thanks to Professor Nash
we have an option that can lead to win-win situation for all the competitors.
This post is in
honor of a Nobel laureate and mathematical genius, John Nash, the originator of
this concept, who died of a car accident on 23rd May, 2015. His
contribution to the game theory will not only is stepping stone for research in
the field for other researchers but also will be helpful in decision making
inside complex systems in daily life.
I would surely
recommend to watch Oscar winning movie ‘A beautiful mind’ which has documented
his contribution to the field of game theory and struggle with mental illness for
more than three decades before his resurrection to the normal life.
