Had a fun-filled night, playing Rummy with my cousins and brother and, as much as we had fun, we were struck by the conspicuity of some philosophical principles with wider applicability
- Success brings adversaries – As one of us started getting richer in the virtual currency we used for the game, others developed a common feeling of jealousy towards the richest person, and wanted to bring him down. As soon as another comes to the top, general sentiments were reorganized against the new leader. In general, if you’re successful, you’ll attract jealousy and enmity in this world. So, might as well be prepared for it.
- Diminishing marginal utility – Those with more money are the ones who complain more about winning less in a single game. Losers just want to make enough to cancel their losses, the soon-to-be-bankrupt just want to stay afloat, the really rich ones want to multiply their fortunes. Call it the law of diminishing marginal utility or greed, the more you have, the more you want.
- Relativity of wealthiness – It doesn’t matter how much money you start with or how much you have at any point. Your satisfaction depends on how much you have got from others and how wealthier you are in comparison to those around you. Though this is particularly true in the case of virtual money that has no utility beyond satisfaction of having earned it, it also holds to a great extent in the case of real-world money because beyond a point where your necessities are met, wealth is mostly for improving your social standing.
- The Pure Sequence – You may have numerous sets, but they don’t mean anything if you cannot make a pure sequence. It’s a similar case in life. You may have money, fame, power, and more. But if you’re not at peace with yourself, they don’t mean a thing. It’s your own internal state of peace and happiness that makes these other achievements valuable. Remember, the pure sequence means no jokers are allowed. Joker, in this context, might refer to show or hollowness, which is okay to some extent in all your material accomplishments, where it might serve the purpose. But when it comes to happiness, pretension or display does not help.
I’m sure there are many more interesting lessons to be learnt. If you can think of any, feel free to share those as comments.
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Starting from equal points, you start acting/behaving with other players depending on your score after some time. In real life if you are rich, and in the game you are poor, you will start understanding how it is to be poor and start acting mildly. It also works the other way. In real life if you are poor, and becomes rich in the game, you start behaving like a rich guy, bossing and bullying around. This has been proved by 50 experiments:http://www.upworthy.com/take-two-normal-people-add-money-to-just-one-of-them-and-watch-what-happens-next?g=2
That is surely an interesting point and merits more research and discussion, though I am not sure if such a sweeping generalization is warranted. I couldn't watch the video fully. When I do, I'll have to decide what I think about it 🙂