TitforTat How to Stop Conflicts
Transcriber: Maram S
Reviewer: Hani Eldalees
The diplomatic conflict such as
North and South Korea
and the conflict between Pumeok and
jingmeok
Well, this is a very serious problem.
However, there is a clear way
to solve these issues.
I called it the Tit-for-Tat
before we start talking about Tit-for-Tat
Let me explain the
Korean Political Structure
Everyone knows that the elderly
are usually conservative
and the youth are usually liberal.
However, this has
led to political
and generational conflict
in the Korean society
There are two kinds of generation
in Korea The first is the elderly.
They were born before and after
the Japanese colonial era
and the Korean War. After the war, they
perform “the miracle of Han river”
They made something out of nothing.
They also sacrificed everything
for their children’s education
because they just wanted their children
to live in a better world.
They are the last generation
to experience the war.
So they are the most anti-communist
generation in this society.
They also have the pride to led the
development of Korean economy.
However, some of this pride turn out to be
authoritarianism to the new generation.
The next generation is, as you know,
the new generation.
They were born before Korea became
a developed country.
This generation is different
from the elderly
because they can say what is
right and what is wrong,
even against to their boss.
They do not allow
inequality in their life
and fight against the tyranny
and discrimination.
However, the boys of this new
generation seems like radical opinions
with no realistic opportunities
Over the decade, the gap between
the two generations has become very wide
the elderly would say that our period
of heyday was the best moment,
but it is not so anymore.
When the youth here
they will say we are living
in the best moment,
which the elderly could not achieve.
The elderly can’t understand the youth and
the youth cannot understand the elderly
For this reason, Korean society
has fallen into a pit
which caused the generation conflict.
However, I’m not here to talk about which
one is right and which one is wrong.
I’m just worried about
this kind of conflict
between old and new
become hate each other.
Everyone knows this is not only
worst to the country,
but also the worst to each people.
That is why there is a theory that has
a magic power to serve this conflict.
The Tit-for-Tat
Tit-for-Tat means
if you hit me, I will hit you.
Well, it may sound very aggressive,
However, Tit-for-Tat if used in the
theory of the game,
which is very important theory
in the economics.
To understand the Tit-for-Tat, we
have to understand this game.
The prisoner’s dilemma.
The rule here is this
When only one person confesses,
the other person will be in
a place of disadvantage.
In this case, he will go
to jail for ten years.
However, when everyone keeps silent,
the disadvantage of both prisoners
will be reduced.
So what choice do you think
prisoners have?
Robert Axelrod the professor
of political science
at the University of Michigan asked
the same question as I did.
He wanted to answer the question.
That is why he held the simulation contest
to find the answer from this game.
The rules of the contest are just
like the prisoner’s dilemma.
If only one program succeeds in defeating,
it will get five points and the
other will get zero point.
When both program defeat each other,
they will get only one point.
However, when both programs
cooperate with each other,
every program will get three points.
This is when a genius appears
his name is Anatol Rapoport.
a mathematician from Russia.
He invented the Tit-for-Tat strategy
to be used in this contest.
The result is very interesting.
The Tit-for-Tat strategy won every single
contest with absolute score.
You might think that the Tit-for-Tat
strategy is made of the complex code
and the complicated programming code
with many formula and functions.
Well, the answer is you are wrong.
In fact, the Tit-for-Tat
has just two sentences.
First, always cooperate at the beginning.
Second, follow the previous choice
that the opponent makes.
The important point of the Tit-for-Tat is
here, always cooperate at the beginning.
And I believe this is the key to solve
the conflict between generations.
The elderly believe that their past
heyday was the best moment,
while the new generation believed that
they were living in the best moment.
However, we need to
remember the Tit-for-Tat strategy
When we cooperate at
the beginning without any condition,
we can achieve the
better and the best result
With Tit-for-Tat we can
understand and work with each other.
In this situation, we can
head toward the future,
not living in the past and not the
present only for the future.
I believe this is the moment when
the best can be achieved.
The past has only the value
when we can learn from it in the future.
We can not move on the future when we
blame each other to live in a past moment.
We must remember the
strategy of Tit-for-Tat.
As we finish up, I have just one
question to ask everyone,
I think is the most important
question in my speech.
Why don’t you cooperate at first?
Not for other people, only for you,
because this is the key for the conflict,
the generational conflict and the
political conflict, every conflict.
Thank you for your attention.