Games Theory

In Search of the Perfect Band Name: Games Theory

Some people play video games all day. Some people approach life as a game. There is some good theory suggesting that we are governed by a set of rules known as games theory.

Richard Dawkins, in his classic book “The Selfish Gene” postulates that much of our behavior is driven by our genes. As a male, the excuse is infinitely appealing (although it seems like a lot to pin on one missing leg on one pair of the 23^rd chromosome).

The argument is that we are massively self-interested. As our children and other family members share a good deal of our genetic code, we are interested in their survival as well as our own. This is his explanation for altruism in the animal world, and possibly generalized into the human world.

It gets a little complicated, because we can tell our genes to go jump in a lake. For instance, I want my daughter to do well in life, but this is not because it will perpetuate a good deal of my unique genetic code. I’m interested in her being able to afford a really good old folks home.

Basically, games theory suggests there is such a thing as an ‘evolutionary stable strategy’ governing how animals behave. For example, consider food. One could gather food, or steal it. Since the animal world does not have ethical philosophy (at least so far as we know), there should be no guilt over stealing. However, if most people started stealing, there would be nothing left to steal, and the animals with sharper gathering skills might survive long enough to have offspring that are good at gathering. At some point, the ratio of freeloaders to hard workers balances out.

I have seen the same thing at work. No matter how frustratingly incompetent a boss is, there are enough competent workers to carry the day. They usually get fired, but the job pool has a higher percentage of competent people than the company, so it usually works out well enough for a company to continue limping onward year after year.

Perhaps this is the same idea behind Adam Smith’s famous invisible hand. Somehow we think that the free market is going to balance things out. Even in the absence of moral compulsions to do the right thing, businesses might just do so because it ends up working out.

Perhaps businesses would have figured out they can get better work out of a 40-hour employee without government regulation. Perhaps Detroit will design 50+ mpg cars because they will gain a greater market share in the brave new world of exponentially growing gas prices. I’m not holding my breath, but it is comforting to think that things might just work out even intervention from a bigger bully.

In light of these recent revelations, I’ve been thinking of starting a band. We could call ourselves “Games Theory”. Even though the name is based on serious evolutionary thought, we would probably play music similar to They Might Be Giants.

It would be fun, but I’ve always seen myself as more of a brooding, misunderstood genius. I don’t think anyone else sees me that way, but self-delusion and ego are important in the music industry. Maybe I need to continue searching for the perfect band name.