What I propose here is somewhat of a thought experiment inspired by a non-situation in my life. I say non situation because I 99% sure nothing bad will come of it, but it made me think a little about game theory. Game theory here being in the context of Nash equilibria which was popularized by John Nash who won a Nobel prize for his work on behavioral economics. He basically said that the best payout isn't always by the efforts of the individual. my example is pretty close to the well known prisinor's dellema which is plastered all over the internet if you want to read it.
Here is the background. You and your friend are good friends. You can't recall the last time you have ever fought or gotten into arguments. Both of you are roughly equal at getting women but never fight over women. Sometimes you have a better weekend, sometimes he does. For all purposes, you two are nearly similar.
Here is the scenario. A few years back, you and your last girlfriend parted ways. you still keep up, but its not very frequently. Still, you wouldn't want to hear her tell you about sex from the night before, but you don't really care about who she dates. She moved area and your buddy is on business and wants to see the town. So he drops her a line and is like 'lets chill. show me around'. She obliges. meanwhile a situation arises where you have a chance to hang out with a chick your boy was seeing for a while. It was never anything serious, but you get that vibe from this chick. The assumption here is that it would hurt either participant if they heard their friend hooked up with the other chick.
To turn this strictly into a mathematical problem, lets pretend here that the gains realized are getting laid and staying friends. That is what is controllable. It will be a choice of one of you to stay friends, but it is within both of your control to get laid with a chick.
1- Payout 1. The payout is the highest possible since both got laid, and that both understand that it wasn't anything personal. Yes, this might be twisted and somewhat unrealistic, but if both of you act in this behavoir, it'll be very hard to justify furor towards the other. The payout is arbitarily set to +2
2- payout 2. only YOU have sex, your boy doesn't. he result of this game is asymmetrical because your satisfaction is only slightly higher than his. While the friendship is lost, only you got laid so it wasn't as bad as the other guys abstaining and getting nothing out of it. However, this payout is symmetrical in the sense that the same value is assigned if HE gets it done and you get nothing. This is a tough one to explain and i'll edit this as I see fit. The result is either -2 or +2 depending on who had sex...its a bad situation.
3- Payout 3. No one gets laid, but the friendship is in tact. This option leaves you down because you did not get sex, but a friendship is still there so no biggie. +3 because nothing happens
Your Nash equilibria Matrix (don't unplug this one
Sex (You)
Yes (+5) No( -2)
(Friend) Yes(+2) No(+3)
What you don't know is what your friend will do. It is impossible to know for sure. You must first vote on this premise alone. If people still care to play, I will follow this up.
Please feel free to question how I weigh things, and your thoughts on such a senario. Its highly idealized, but something which I am sure you can think about on your own. It brings to the table risk and rewards, but also an element of unpredictability. I am curious how people will weigh these things when making a choice.
/nerdrant off
Here is the background. You and your friend are good friends. You can't recall the last time you have ever fought or gotten into arguments. Both of you are roughly equal at getting women but never fight over women. Sometimes you have a better weekend, sometimes he does. For all purposes, you two are nearly similar.
Here is the scenario. A few years back, you and your last girlfriend parted ways. you still keep up, but its not very frequently. Still, you wouldn't want to hear her tell you about sex from the night before, but you don't really care about who she dates. She moved area and your buddy is on business and wants to see the town. So he drops her a line and is like 'lets chill. show me around'. She obliges. meanwhile a situation arises where you have a chance to hang out with a chick your boy was seeing for a while. It was never anything serious, but you get that vibe from this chick. The assumption here is that it would hurt either participant if they heard their friend hooked up with the other chick.
To turn this strictly into a mathematical problem, lets pretend here that the gains realized are getting laid and staying friends. That is what is controllable. It will be a choice of one of you to stay friends, but it is within both of your control to get laid with a chick.
1- Payout 1. The payout is the highest possible since both got laid, and that both understand that it wasn't anything personal. Yes, this might be twisted and somewhat unrealistic, but if both of you act in this behavoir, it'll be very hard to justify furor towards the other. The payout is arbitarily set to +2
2- payout 2. only YOU have sex, your boy doesn't. he result of this game is asymmetrical because your satisfaction is only slightly higher than his. While the friendship is lost, only you got laid so it wasn't as bad as the other guys abstaining and getting nothing out of it. However, this payout is symmetrical in the sense that the same value is assigned if HE gets it done and you get nothing. This is a tough one to explain and i'll edit this as I see fit. The result is either -2 or +2 depending on who had sex...its a bad situation.
3- Payout 3. No one gets laid, but the friendship is in tact. This option leaves you down because you did not get sex, but a friendship is still there so no biggie. +3 because nothing happens
Your Nash equilibria Matrix (don't unplug this one
Sex (You)
Yes (+5) No( -2)
(Friend) Yes(+2) No(+3)
What you don't know is what your friend will do. It is impossible to know for sure. You must first vote on this premise alone. If people still care to play, I will follow this up.
Please feel free to question how I weigh things, and your thoughts on such a senario. Its highly idealized, but something which I am sure you can think about on your own. It brings to the table risk and rewards, but also an element of unpredictability. I am curious how people will weigh these things when making a choice.
/nerdrant off