On Competition and Co-operation
Swami Gulagulaananda said: " He who competes in a cooperative game is but surely a fool " When I watched the movie A Beautiful Mind , I liked the idea of Game Theory - And being a fan of all kinds of games, I thought Game Theory would be useful in some video game that I played (apparently I wasn't very smart). It was only later when I read about it, I found it to be something totally different. Game Theory is an interesting concept, and it helps us to choose the best move based on the outcomes that we desire. Let us look at the nature of games that we typically play - whether it is chess, carrom, football or cricket - Our objective is to win and ensure that the opponent loses. In these games, there is always a winner and a loser (Let's ignore ties), and such games are called Zero-sum games . Participants in such games play to win, to ensure their victory and the defeat of the opponent. On the other hand, there is a second type of games called Co-operative games , and...