Game Theory, Part 1: Background

(I’ve decided I’m not quite comfortable with the explanations of others regarding Game Theory as a Socio-Sexual Model. Here’s my own explanation.)

We all have our maps of reality. Like ancient cartographers exploring the oceans for undiscovered lands, we only know what we have encountered. Conditions of our observations may hinder an accurate assessment, as if a cartographer were trying to see through intermittent fog.

In this context, the fog is a broad cultural mythology. Those in positions of authority, as gate keepers of what ought to be, will build an orthodoxy intended to keep us dependent, and thus remaining under their control. They present to us a map of reality with much already printed indelibly, always ready with various means to punish any effort to pencil in details at variance with their orthodoxy. So it is in the US, and in similar fashion in other English speaking countries.

However, we are further hindered by a vastly larger and deeper orthodox mythology as part of Western Civilization. The very frame of reference by which we differentiate what is fact and fiction, and what questions we are permitted to ask in the process, restrict all variations to a narrow channel, so that very minor differences seem large. Thus, we are several layers away from reality, and our mapping is in many ways doomed to utter futility.

When human flight became possible, cartography was vastly improved, allowing us to accurately measure and record the topography of places we could never actually visit directly. When the age of satellites and GPS came along, the questions were all answered in more detail than any normal human could use. It requires vast computer power to provide us with models which filter out extraneous data in answering our needs. So it is with mapping reality. While it is not possible to offer a global detailed survey of all reality, we can present a snapshot, an interpretive view portal of human sexual interactions by at least offering a more accurate model.

Thus, the Game Model of Socio-Sexual Interactions.

This is a working model, a functional map of reality. The reason we call it “Game” is simple. Each of us, on some level, knows instinctively our map of reality will vary in quality not simply because of gaps in our experience, but varies also with our mapping skills. The human consciousness is wired to seek skill development by practice, by engaging small subsets of complex tasks to limit failure to a level at which it can be processed for improvement.

We engage in sports to develop physical skills. We play word games to sharpen spelling and grammar. We play strategy games to develop the logic of estimating variables. We engage in role play to test our mapping skills against alternative universes, fictional “realities” which reduce the vast and confusing array of things which bewilder most of humanity in the real world. The whole function of entertainment is to allow a sense of withdrawal from reality just far enough to reduce the tensions which make coping sometimes a bit much. It permits an opportunity to reset and restart with a renewed mental vigor.

That is, when things work as they should. It is possible to be so weak in our initial assessment of reality we can lose ourselves in our entertainment, and end up more broken than ever. Thus, we recognize various forms of addiction and other self-destructive behavior patterns we have seen, and perhaps experienced directly to some degree. By offering a model of human sexuality based on gaming, we make an infinitely complex portion of our human existence into something less bewildering, more inviting, offering a shot at reducing the misery of our existence by some degree.

Nothing in this model pretends to be normative. We are not answering the question of what ought to be, but what is. It remains highly complex and variable even as a working model. Few like it because few win; most of us find offense in it. All the more so if we subscribe to any of the mainstream cultural mythologies. The starting point is to derisively dismiss such mythologies, and proceed with an assessment based on observed reality.

What follows is a mere introduction to the Game Model, the rules of the game, as it were. This part alone is likely jarring enough. If you manage to absorb it, the rest will seem relatively easy.

Take a moment to remind yourself of the fundamental nature of sexual attraction: The human instinct to breed, and breed well, is a true animal instinct. Men and women are hard-wired to approach the question from different angles, but it remains the quest of propagating one’s own DNA. When God commanded Adam and Eve to multiply, it was not merely something they needed to think about, but God burned it into the flesh nature of every living creature.