Game Theory: Mass, Motivation, and Coordination

If you look at game theories, all games, the people who always win the game, they win because of this formula, which is mass times energy times coordination.

All right, so, uh, mass is just the number of people, um, times energy, which is the level of motivation of these people, times coordination, which is the ability of these people to work together to achieve their end.

Um, some things to keep in mind about this formula: first of all, the different factors are not weighted equally.

So coordination is the most important factor, and it's weighted at least three times as much as mass.

Then you have energy, um, and energy is sec- is what's second most important, and it's weighted, uh, twice as much as mass.

And, um, depending-- and, you know, different... depending on the game, the weightings can be different.

But please, please keep this in mind, coordination is what really matters, followed by energy, followed ultimately by mass.

So I've explained that. Let me explain to you what each term means and how we can measure each factor to get a more mathematical understanding of this formula.

Mass is just the number of people involved, but, um, what's important to measure is their cohesion, how much they like each other, how much they're willing to work together.

So, for example, um, you look at Japan and China.

Japan is a much more cohesive society than China.

So in terms of mass, Japan is actually stronger than China, even though China has ten times or five times as many people as Japan.

Then you look at, um, energy. Energy is the level of motivation.

And usually when we think of energy, we think of physical energy.

But actually, in this formula, it's mental energy that really matters, because if you think about it, it's mental energy that is the most, um, uh, expensive.

And so you need the most amount of motivation in order to achieve mental energy.

So let me give you an example of this. Um, let's just say there are two people.

The first person, he's digging a hole in the ground for twelve hours a day for a whole year.

Then you have another person who, every day, is seeking to improve himself.

So he's constantly in the process of self-reflection, writing down his-- the ways that he can improve, and creating a strategy, a formula for how he can improve himself.

Well, according to this formula, the second person is expending much more energy than the first person, even though if we just look at it, it seems like the-- it's the first person that's doing all the work, the second person just sitting around all day, just thinking.

And the reason why is, in the world, the three hardest words to say for a human being is, "I am wrong."

To say, "I'm wrong," is to negate yourself, to negate your ego, to admit that you have failings.

To say you are wrong is also to commit to a policy of self-improvement, self-change.

It's also a tremendous loss of face to say, "I'm wrong," before your peers.

You lower your status. Um, you lose face.

And that, and that's why, um, people who are more energetic, who are mo- mo- motivated, they are much more open to change.

They're much more willing to accept their limitations.

They're much more willing to commit to self-improvement.

So energy is a measure of motivation, and we can measure motivation by a group's openness to accepting its limitations, its failings.

Okay? So that's the idea of energy. Then the third aspect of this formula is the idea of coordination.

And coordination can be divided into two different, um, two different types.

The first type is conscious coordination.

Second type is subconscious coordination.

Conscious coordination is when you're led by someone.

It could be a leader, it could be a bureaucracy, it could be a patriarch.

Subconscious coordination is when there's no clear leader or clear direction, people just subconsciously work together.

Um, it's almost like a dance. And of the two, subconscious coordination is the most-- the more powerful.