When I was 4 or 5 years old, I was in a Kindergarten class which I remember to be nothing but playing all sorts of games. One game which I particularly remember was the one introduced by our teacher Ms. Luz. She divided us into two groups. With a box of chocolates as the grand prize, each group was supposed to collect in 10 minutes all the toys scattered in our classroom. The group with the most number of toys collected was going to be the winner. Each of us of course went on to collect these toys as fast as we could and fought against the kids in the other group that it turned into a rambunctious riot. Two kids were on a little fist fight of some kind. My group was declared a winner as two of my group mates did look like little bullies. Immediately after that, the teacher suggested that we will have another game. She said, “This time, although I want to have the same groups, I have one and only one mission for you and that is to arrange all these toys in their proper places. If you guys are able to put them in order, I will give each group a box of chocolates”. Since some of the pieces of the toys were in the other group, all the kids collaborated with each other to put all the pieces together and the toys in their proper places. The two kids who earlier had a fist fight inevitably had to help each other. Looking back, I realize that Ms. Luz was actually trying to illustrate in her own way the game theory by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern. The first race she introduced was a zero-sum game where everyone had to fight to earn the prize. At the end, there were winners and losers. The second game however was structured in such a way that all the kids regardless of the group would inevitably cooperate to claim their respective prizes. Within an hour or so, the game of greed became a game of cooperation as everyone, regardless of his or her group worked for one purpose i.e. the completion of the task and to claim the prize of each group.
If each group represents a corporation or a country, my sense of optimism is telling me that maybe we are heading to the future of such interdependence. This kindergarten wisdom is retrospectively telling me that for mutual benefit rather than parasitism, it is not much on how we play the game but it is more of transforming the nature of the game altogether.
If that kindergarten class represents the world, however, I am just wondering who will play the role of Ms. Luz?
2 comments:
"I am amazed at how a small kindergarten in a small bucolic town of Alubihid is able to come up with such an intelligent game :) Cheers to Ms. Luz."
Maybe that is why the author used a rhetoric phrase, "Looking back"...And anonymous 2:40am is probably right.
Paradox,
-The piece is apparently a retrospective so no need to be amazed. It's Norberto who is smart, not necessarily Ms. Luz. lol But thanks to Luz she is instrumental to the kids' growth.
-A small town can be anything. A very good high school I know in Australia is located in the farm.
-Norberto asked the thought-provoking question so your comment would have earned some merit had you shared your opinion yourself.
-As to my one-cent worth: I think the interdependence is happening and the internet is partly recreating the world in the image of a global village. As to who will be Ms. Luz? Well, I guess she'd be a a neat symbolism for the ideal global governance system. Whatever would that be...
-Peter
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