Fools

 

What Kind Of Fool Am I?

What kind of clown am I?
What do I know of life?
Why can't I cast away
This mask of play and live my life.

Does society have an interest in whether you are a fool or not?

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”  This quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln is not only an expression of his optimism.  It also is why society has rules, (laws, customs, traditions, etc.) And why the penalty for a crime must often be greater than the benefit of that crime.

Imagine a game where Player One must chose to play either “Try To Fool” or “Not Try To Fool”.  Player Two is either “Fooled” or “Not Fooled”.  A fair game is one in which Player One has no incentive in playing ‘Trying to Fool” or “ Not Trying to Fool”. The goal of the referee, e.g. society, is to ensure that the game is fair and setting a penalty for “Trying To Fool” and being unsuccessful.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and if the benefit of “Trying To Fool” and succeeding is X, and the benefit of not trying to fool is 0, then the penalty of “Trying To Fool” and failing must offset the benefit of “Trying To Fool” and succeeding.  If the Player Two receives nothing when he is not fooled, then the game is NOT a zero sum game (i.e. is not fair) for either Player One or Player Two.  After enough games have been played, a winning strategy for Player One will be always “Try To Fool” and Player Two will always lose.  In this case, no one will play this game unless they can be Player One. If society has an interest in both players being willing to play the game, society has to establish and collect a penalty when Player One “Tries To Fool” and fails.

Player One Outcome

			Trying to Fool	Not  Trying to Fool
All	Rest	Fooled	X	0
		Not Fooled	Y	0
	Some	Fooled	X	0
		Not Fooled	Y	0
	Society		-Some/All * X	0
	Outcome		X*Rest/All*Odds Fooled Rest+ Y*Rest/All*Odds Not Fooled Rest+ X*Some/All*Odds Fooled Some+ Y*Some/All*Odds Not Fooled Some -X*Some/All	0

 Player Two Outcome

	All
	Rest		Some		Society
	Fooled	Not Fooled	Fooled	Not Fooled
Trying to Fool	-X	X	-X	X	Some/All * X
Not Trying to Fool	-Y	Y	-Y	Y	0
Outcome	-(X+Y)	+(X+Y)	-(X+Y)	+(X+Y)	Some/All * X

For a fair, zero sum, game, Y must be equal to -X.  This is the ancient Code of Hammurabi.  “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”  If the game continues and the roles are reversed, then if there is a difference between the penalty and the reward, e.g. “Two eyes for one eye”, then a feud, cycle of vengeance, may arise.  If the benefit equals the penalty, without regard for the Odds, the outcome for Player Two is the same regardless of what Player One does.

If some of the People are fooled all of the time, then the Odds of Some being fooled is 100% and the Odds of Some not being fooled is 0%.  If the Odds of the Rest being fooled is A%, less than 100%, and the odds of the Rest not being fooled is (100%-A%), then the odds of All Being Fooled all of the time is also less than 100% and the odds of All Being Fooled Some of the Time is 100%.  If the odds are different for Some and for the Rest, then unless society enacts and collects a penalty for "Trying to Fool" and failing equal to Some/All*X, then the outcome for Player One will be biased to “Trying To Fool”.

Society, to ensure that the game is fair, must require that the reward for not being fooled is the same as the penalty for being fooled.  Society must also additionally enforce a  penalty if the odds for some are different than the odds for the rest.  If no one is ever fooled, (i.e. has a different set of odds), then society will collect no penalty.  Society has no interest in whether Player One is “Trying to Fool” or not.  Society has no interest in whether Player Two is being “Fooled” or not. Society only has an interest that the odds for Some are different than the odds for the Rest.  Society doesn’t care if you are being the Fool or trying to Fool.  It only cares that the game is fair.