Playing Games Against Ourselves
In recent years, global geopolitics has started to resemble a game no game designer would be proud of. Foreign powers like the U.S. and China leverage economic and political strategies to secure resources and influence, often at the expense of global unity and stability.
There is a game Sid Meyer would never release. We are playing it as we speak.
Right now, the largest global military force pressures Ukraine to sign deals giving US companies preferential access to Ukraine’s critical minerals and natural resources. AfD, a far-right EU-sceptic party is set for a strong second place in the German election. China continues to invest in Europe through the Belt and Road Project, seeking ownership of strategic assets in order to secure its geographical presence in strategic locations.
To some extent, foreign powers gains from a weaker Europe where the EU is faltering and individual countries are run by leaders who are easily maneuvered.
All of this is part of a game we play—against ourselves. A game based on a fictitious and sticky belief, that seems to start in the retina.
Where it all starts
When light hits the eye, certain cells in the retina directly starts making sense of the continuum. Some activates on light, others on darkness. One layer up, some cells act as sharpening filters through excitatory and inhibitory pathways. Others finetune the signals and makes sure that things like timestamps are correct.
When the residual activity from photons reaches the brain, a prototype of high-level categories are already present within it. Activity patterns are crafted further in subsequent areas of the visual cortex, allowing ”detection” of edges and borders.
Here, in the brain, abstractions starts to emerge—and alongside them, the boundaries. Thor Heyerdal got it right by intuition; Borders exists in the minds of some people. Outside our collective ideas, everything exists in a continuum.
But we act as if our made up entities are physical realities. The idea of ownership of land. And then further categories. Countries. Each with their individual incentives, leading to collective ruin when shared resources are overused.
The game is on. And to be honest - it’s a really lousy game. Sid Meyer would never even let it out his studio, because in the end every player looses. The game is finite, and some name it The Tragedy of the Commons. Each player to their own devices. Resource hunt. Abiding to game theory rules resulting in multipolar traps.
USA and China are tightly enmeshed, coupled in the gameplay, acting as two opposite forces, nourishing division where there is none, together towards loss in a zero sum game.
In the end, we play this game against ourselves.