The Adventures of Bonnie and Clyde

The famous couple was caught early in their outlaw career and the district attorney had little evidence to use against the two, so he tried the classic game-theoretic interrogation technique. Clyde was told that Bonnie was being interrogated by one of his colleagues. Both would be convicted for 5 years if they both confessed, but if Bonnie confessed while Clyde remained silent, she would go free while he would be locked up for 10 years instead. The district attorney reminded him that con men and women always go for the deal, so he would be stupid if he tried protecting her. Clyde laughed in his face and said "This woman has taken a bullet for me. Execute me on the spot, I will never betray my soul sister!"

Economists and game theorists have long assumed that we are rational, at least up to recently, when the psychologists have started to take over. But what exactly is rational? If your mother, brother or best friend was put in a similar friend versus foe exercise, how do you think they would choose, on your behalf or against you? Most decisions can be boiled down to self-interest versus love. When you choose love, God will be standing right next to you, and your brothers and sisters might be more responsive to your benevolent attitude than you can imagine.

You might say that this idea that love conquers all may exist at home, but will surely backfire in a professional setting. Well, this is something you can experiment with. The secret is that your sisters and brothers will react to you the way you perceive them and the situation. See them as competitors, or try to get something from them and they will pay back in kind. Choose love instead and they will be kind.

The advantage you have at work today over Clyde when he faced his decision is that you can run thousands of little experiments over the years. My hypothesis, true kindness will get you further in your career than your time tested competitive spirit. You certainly will be happier that way. You might be in for a surprise and your colleagues might just respond in kind. In those cases where they appear to take advantage of you, it might imply that you have been naive, or it might imply that you still haven't come completely clean towards them. I don't think you have that much to lose by being kind, so please give the adventure of kindness a try.

The Prisoner's Dilemma

Economists created a game that was supposed to describe the workings of our society in the following way: Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal. If one testifies (defects from the other) for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent (cooperates with the other), the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must choose to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act? (From Wikipedia)

The right answer is that both will betray the others if they are rational, so they will both end up in jail for 5 years. When I thought about this game I was suddenly reminded of our ego discussions. This is actually the game of the ego. I also love how we conclude that if the player is rational, non-cooperation will be the outcome. What do you think the outcome of this game would be if one of your parents or children would be sitting in the other room, or a dear friend?

The ego is insane and love is the way, yet we call the workings of the ego rational. I think spirituality is about recognizing our brothers and sisters in all interactions. This does not mean that you should be naive in your dealings with people (the ego's biggest fear) but simply connected. If you are following the script of the Tao your brother and sister will always cooperate. If you are trown into jail for 10 years instead, well, that probably means you overlooked something somewhere.