From the genetic lottery we're thrown into at birth, to the educational opportunities we navigate, the jobs we compete for, and the relationships we cultivate—every stage in life is marked by wins and losses, strategies and tactics, alliances, and competition. But not all games are zero-sum showdowns. To understand non-zero-sumness it helps to consider "sum" different types of games.

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Learn more at the Game Theory Page (https://nonzerosum.games/gametheory.html)

First episode, a bit about who, why and what. Read more at https://nonzerosum.games |

Links:

Modelling (a very old blog about my very short lived modelling “career”) https://prefrontallobotomy.blogspot.com/2009/06/im-model-you-know-what-i-mean.html

Relative Value (if you just can’t wait for the podcast episode, you can read more here) https://nonzerosum.games/absolutevsrelative.html |

Subscribe here: https://nonzerosum.games/subscribe.html

Inspired by a recent trip to Tanzania, I couldn't help see game theory in action.

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For links and pics: https://nonzerosum.games/chicken.html

Take-it-or-leave-it.

In this game, you are given $10. To keep the money, you have to give a portion of this $10 away to another player. If we take the contained, rational and self-interested assumptions of game theory, the dominant strategy is simple: give the other player as little as possible. The catch is, if the other player rejects your offer, you both get nothing.

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For all the links, pictures and payoff matrices visit: https://nonzerosum.games/ultimatumgame.html

Game theorist Liv Boeree describes herself as pathologically competitive and indeed, her life has been about "winning" in many ways.

Introducing our first Non-Zero Hero, part of a series people out on the front lines preaching the gospel of non-zero-sum games. Liv is responsible for introducing me to Moloch.

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Liv Won The European Poker Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64GWjR4vKGs&t=21s

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Her brutal 'Golden Balls' performance is here: https://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6GhbT-zEfc

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If you're not familiar with The Prisoner's Dilemma check out our post here: https://nonzerosum.games/prisonersdilemma.html

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Visit Liv's charity 'Raising for Effective Giving' here: https://reg-charity.org/

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Check out here 'Win-Win' Podcast here: https://www.winwinpodcast.com/

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For more on Moloch check out our series: https://nonzerosum.games/map-moloch.html

Coordination Problems are situations in Game Theory where coordinated solutions are required to solve complex problems, like those we've explored with Moloch—where we end up complicit in our own downfall. And we'll be exploring this through a story about one of my many childhood mishaps.

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To read the original post visit: https://nonzerosum.games/unlockingsolutions.html

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This episode mentions Humanity's Alignment Problem, which isn't in podcast form yet, but is part of the series over at the blog: The Alignment Problem No One is Talking About: https://nonzerosum.games/alignment1.html

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And here is the link to the Holzer and Neumark research: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jel.38.3.483

I mentioned in Who is Moloch? that the Canaanites were acting rationally by offering the occasional child for sacrifice, but that's not entirely true. We can actually find an optimal strategy through using some Game Theory!

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To read the whole series visit: https://nonzerosum.games/map-moloch.html

Molochian systems—they're insidious, they're ubiquitous, and they're messing with your life in ways you might not even realise. Today, we're diving into four key examples of these pesky systems that can turn self-interest into a collective nightmare: Listicles, Bargain Hunting, Tax Havens, and Late-Stage Capitalism.

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Yuval Noah Harari on Gossip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-XGwOxtH9E

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Donate to Unicef here: https://www.unicef.org/protection/child-labour

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Join the discussion over on the blog: https://nonzerosum.games/manifestationsofmoloch.html

Moloch is a metaphor describing systems where individual rational decisions lead to collectively bad outcomes. This series explores how Moloch manifests, why it’s so hard to break free, and what strategies might help us escape these traps.

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Links:

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Read the illustrated post here: https://nonzerosum.games/whoismoloch.html

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Liv Boeree's Beauty wars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fifVuhgvQQ8

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and The Media Wars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRz54V7rU4U

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Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl': https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl

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Scott Alexander's 'Meditations on Moloch': https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/

Dealing with public goods, free riders and exploitation.

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For links, pics and to join the discussion: https://nonzerosum.games/socialdilemmas.html

Two hunters can cooperate to catch a stag (a difficult but highly rewarding prize) or each can safely hunt a hare (a lower-value but guaranteed meal).

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For links and images visit the page: https://nonzerosum.games/staghunt.html

We've considered how the Prisoner's Dilemma reveals a number of key concepts in game theory. Yet, I have some reservations that it is the field's best advocate for applying game theory in the real world.

This episode will outline the problems with using the Prisoner's Dilemma as our go-to scenario.

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For illustrations and links, check out the original post: https://nonzerosum.games/dilemmasdilemma.html

The Prisoner's Dilemma is the go-to example for game theory noobs and experts alike. It's a non-zero-sum game that introduces payoff matrices, it has a Nash Equilibrium that is not also Pareto Efficient (helping to distinguish between the two) and when taken further, we discover that strategies change with iterated games. It's got it all! Or does it? This post explains the Prisoner's Dilemma and details its benefits while the following series will question whether or not it's really the best advocate for game theory in the real world.

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For the original post and links, visit: https://nonzerosum.games/prisonersdilemma.html

It is high time I confront a phrase that is a major obstacle to moral dialogue; the refrain... well, it's subjective.

In this episode I make a case for the tractability of moral values.

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The original post, with links can be visited here: https://nonzerosum.games/itssubjective.html

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The post references consequentialist ethics, in particular Utilitarianism but doesn't fully flesh it out. I intend to post specifically about this in the future, but for now here's a bit about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Utilitarianism

A Pareto efficient scenario is one where no one involved can change strategies without negatively impacting at least one player. It's a lens through which we can re-examine societal norms, interactions, and even our daily choices. While not a silver bullet for the complexities of fairness or social justice, it serves as a useful starting point for dialogue and finding potential improvements.

Nash Equilibrium as one of the key features to get to grips with in the field of game theory, it crops up everywhere. So, here are some simple examples and real world applications that you already take part in.

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Read more about the Toastmasters Payoff: https://nonzerosum.games/confidence.html

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We mention other classic scenarios, which you can check out here:

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The Prisoner's Dilemma: https://nonzerosum.games/prisonersdilemma.html

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The Stag Hunt: https://nonzerosum.games/staghunt.html

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Social Dilemmas: https://nonzerosum.games/socialdilemmas.html

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The Ultimatum Game: https://nonzerosum.games/ultimatumgame.html

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Arusha Perpetual Chicken: https://nonzerosum.games/chicken.html

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Movie Night ~ Battle of the Sexes: https://nonzerosum.games/battleofthesexes.html

Non-Zero-Sum games are just one aspect of the wider field of Game Theory; a fascinating field of mathematics that deals with models of conflict and cooperation among rational decision-makers. In this episode we familiarise ourselves with some of the key elements of game theory so we're primed for understanding.

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This episode is based on our game theory glossary: https://nonzerosum.games/gametheory.html

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To read game theory related posts, visit: https://nonzerosum.games/map-gametheory.html

This episode we look objectively at the question "is capitalism a zero sum game?" the answer might be surprising.

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For the original post and links: https://nonzerosum.games/capitalism.html

On globalisation, and how it might just surprise you.

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For the original post and links: https://nonzerosum.games/globalisation.html

We join Diderot, a very bright man made a fool by circumstance, to introduce an essential idea in understanding economics and non-zero-sum games—the issue of relative vs absolute gains.

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For the original post, including links and references visit: https://nonzerosum.games/absolutevsrelative.html

Ever noticed that the first slice of pizza is always the best and each slice afterwards never quite matches up? Well, welcome to The Law of Diminishing Returns.

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For links and more info: https://nonzerosum.games/diminishingreturns.html

Every Friday our family settles in for family movie night—it's the highlight of the week, especially for the person who's "turn" it is—my wife, daughter and I take turns sharing a movie we love. Our eventual decision to take turns reflects the conclusions of game theory's... The Battle of the Sexes.

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To continue exploring check out the main page: https://nonzerosum.games/battleofthesexes.html

This episode begins a series on luck and circumstances, and asks "What do we owe to each other?"

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For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/saidi.html

This is one of those ideas that constantly recurs in my mind throughout my day, one of those perspective-affecting mental models that helps me navigate the world, and hopefully will do the same for you.

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For the full post and links: https://nonzerosum.games

A lot of politics out in the world appears to me at any rate to be based around a sort of kill-or-be-killed mentality, is if we live an the wild, and need to let nature sort the strong from the weak... but that's not the actual world we live in, so that political mentality is... well, nonsense.

A rambling stream of consciousness about what to do in a society, like ours, when we, thankfully don't let citizens needlessly die.

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For the full ramble, links and sources: https://nonzerosum.games/wedontletpeopledie.html

Let's take a look through our crystal ball at Glass Bottle Utopia. What are the problems, and who's solving them?

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For the original article, links and pictures visit: https://nonzerosum.games/betterrecycling3.html

In part 2 of our series on recycling we look into the problems with plastic recycling and the importance of disincentivising the use of plastics.

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For the original article, including useful links and references visit: https://nonzerosum.games/betterrecycling2.html

This series of 3 episodes are about recycling, and specifically an idea I'd like to put forward as a workable solution for governments, business and the environment—8 different standard-sized glass bottles and jars.

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For illustrations and sources visit the original page: https://nonzerosum.games/betterrecycling.html

Moral licensing is a well researched and understood phenomenon—I'm proposing something slightly different: negative moral licensing, where, instead of using our previous good actions to justify misbehaviour, we use the real or perceived misbehaviour of others to license ours.

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https://nonzerosum.games/morallicensing2.html

Moral licensing is when you use previous virtuous actions to justify less than virtuous behaviour next... There are lots of studies referenced in this episode, you can find links to them all in the text of the original post. Have fun exploring the links, and of course all the pictures.

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Original Post: https://nonzerosum.games/morallicensing1.html

I have a confession: As a teenager I was desperate to learn how to win friends and influence people, to think and grow rich and develop the habits of highly effective people (seven to be precise)—I am James and I am a self-help-oholic.

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Find the original blog + links here: https://nonzerosum.games/positivedoublestandard.html

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If you'd like to check out the emergence series (mentioned in the episode) here it is: https://nonzerosum.games/emergencespirals.html

This week we ask the question: what's more effective, charity or volunteering? The answer, is, as always more complicated than that. If you're thinking about how you can best spend your efforts in making the world a better place, this is the episode for you.

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The original post and links are here: https://nonzerosum.games/kindnessequation.html

've been wrong about the meaning of Meritocracy, and for good reason, there are many different definitions—the term has been used as a pejorative, as an aspirational term, as a definition of a government, and as a general way of allocating credit to individuals. But I understood it as this: A society where a person's rewards reflect their efforts (merit)

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For links, pictures and references check out the original post here: https://nonzerosum.games/effortocracy.html

I will be making the case that somewhat counter-intuitively, by saving lives we actually reduce over-population.

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For the full post and references: https://nonzerosum.games/savinglives.html

In this episode we make the case for giving money to people who are bad with money!

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For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/poverty.html

The system didn't and doesn't need to be this way.

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For the original post visit: https://nonzerosum.games/painejustice.html

I'm always trying to picture in my mind what sort of society I want to live in. To do this is to balancing the freedoms I'm willing to forego in order to provide rights that we determine to be essential to a healthy society.

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This week's episode explores the new way of looking at Rights & Liberties, as a way of codifying this process, rather being used as vaguely interchangeable terms.

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For the original post and references visit: https://nonzerosum.games/rightsandliberties.html

this week I've invited Andrew Tane Glen to read his guest post "Why Cooperate". Andrew a software engineer and an Aristotle scholar (with a Masters in Philosophy) and also my best mate, with whom I talk philosophy on the regular. His unique creative and analytical philosophical approach often yields unexpected insights—insights that have impacted the way I see the world. His conception of why we cooperate, which introduces his concept of the super defector is one that I return to often, so a while back I asked him to write about it. This is his three part series, why cooperate?

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For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/whycooperate1.html

Written on the day of Alexei Navalny's death, a meditation on courage & sacrifice.

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For the original post with links and resources: https://nonzerosum.games/oneperson.html

This one created a bit of a stir when I first wrote the post. Hopefully people can see that the message is a positive one, for everyone.

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For the original post and links, visit: https://nonzerosum.games/masculinity.html

For supplementary diagrams and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/npc.html

A funny story that wasn't so funny at the time (as is so often the case).

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For the original post visit: https://nonzerosum.games/nomatterwhereyougetto.html

Andrew Tane Glen continues his 3-part series "Why Cooperate"

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for the original post and links: https://nonzerosum.games/whycooperate2.html

A hopeful conclusion to Andrew Tane Glen's series "Why Cooperate"

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See the original post and links here: https://nonzerosum.games/whycooperate3.html

The first in a series about humanity's own alignment problem... which we'll need to deal with before we can approach goal alignment in AI.

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For the original post, notes and links: https://nonzerosum.games/alignment1.html

In this post I try to distill the "why" of nonzerosum.games.

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For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/why.html

In part 2 of this alignment series, we look at humanity's own alignment issue.

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For the original post, links and pictures visit: https://nonzerosum.games/alignment2.html

What do Aristotle, J.S Mill, Richard Nixon, Ibram X. Kendi and John Key have in common? They all tried to, at some point combine the interests of the individual and the collective.

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For the original post and links: https://nonzerosum.games/alignment3.html

So, we've seen how reasoning by analogy can help people express their genius, but what about us normies? In this final episode of our Polymaths series we ask how this approach can help us, and how first principles can really backfire on a social level

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For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/polymaths3.html

What's not so good about first principles?

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For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/polymaths2.html