I have been doing research on game theory for more than ten years. Though I left academia, I am still passionate about game theory. I am interested in it not because it is practically helpful but because it offers a powerful lens for me to perceive the world. I used to apply game theory to its narrow application domain, where I designed auctions and mechanisms to influence people's behavior. As my understanding deepens, I no longer think it is the only right way to leverage its value. For me, game theory is more philosophical than practical.
I view my life as a game. It is a single-player, infinite game. The only player that matters in my game is myself. With this mindset, I do not have to play others' games. Because I view my life as an infinite game, I no longer need to calculate every play's payoffs precisely. All I need is to be highly cautious about the potential risk of ruin. This alert sharpens my mind and lets me see things with greater clarity when I attempt to follow my illusions blindly. I cannot wholly avoid misconceptions, but I check them with multiple lenses. I would think about the consequences of my major decisions and actions in the short-term, mid-term, and long-term. Of course, I don't have to evaluate every decision and act that way each time. I only need to focus on those that potentially have an enormous impact on my life. I care more about where I live, what I eat, and how I spend my day. I care little about how others think and behave and how I should conform to social pressure or others' perceptions of me.
I used to be addicted to purchasing electronics. I explore new products daily and upgrade my phone every year. I owned more than 100 cables and adapters alone. My tiny apartment is jammed with various clutters. As long as I realized that my obsession with electronics was not sustainable nor necessary, I quit it. Of course, it was not easy, especially when I started to declutter. The pain of loss is much larger than the joy of purchasing. Now I can comfortably use my six-year-old iPhone 7. My rule of thumb for owning belongings originates from William Morris. It is simple: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."
To stay alive, I meditate, read books, journals, eat natural foods, drink a lot of water, take long walks, and do workouts. I avoid buying stuff or do things to please others because I do not have the obligation or capacity to influence others' emotions. Even if I did something that happened to be helpful to others, I did it for my own sake. I never intended to do it to please others, nor should I because I only have limited control of my own life.
Most critics argue that game theory is useless in everyday life except for some very narrow domains such as auctions mechanism design. One of their main points is that people rarely behave rationally due to a lack of perfect and complete information. I believe it is partially true. Humans are not necessarily rational. They can be susceptible to manipulations or tricks. However, most people still strive to be as sensible as possible. Otherwise, their genes cannot survive for too long because some mistakes are fatal.
To me, game theory is a metaphor to sort things out. It is not an off-the-shelf tool for one to use for a practical problem. A practitioner must adapt from the abstracted game theory and develop executable solutions to his problems.
Attacking game theory by saying that it is useless when someone misuses it is like one blames the sun for his sunburn due to unprotected sunlight exposure. The sun is there. It is his choice to stay under the sun. Similarly, game theory is there. A person has the option to apply it or not. He gains if he uses it correctly, or he loses. It is always dangerous to blindly follow a method or tool without delicate adaptation.
Real-life is more complex than typical two-person games in a standard textbook. Most of the time, we have no clue about the payoffs of a game because the game's rules are constantly changing. Besides, modern humans increasingly live in a universe of noise or misinformation. So there hardly exists so-called Nash equilibrium or optimal strategies. Nevertheless, a person can still proceed with caution and accumulate competitive advantages over the older version. Just like trading stocks, there is no such optimal trading strategy. Yet, many people can survive the markets and make profits with a handful of heuristics and rules.
The magic to winning the game of life is that one must be immensely open-minded and improve himself by his measurements every day. Opportunities never exist until one creates them. Even if they were there, one might miss them if he failed to recognize them.