<Anger towards others will only ruin your life in the end>

<Anger towards others will only ruin your life in the end>

1. Chess, bridge, and soccer are games. Prisoner dilemmas, deer hunting games, and nuclear warfare are games as well. Even though the rewards vary widely, games are games. In that sense, you can also view life itself as a game.

2. Our lives (from an economist's point of view, although different approaches may vary from person to person) are one huge game in which billions of participants pursue their own interests and choose strategically.

3. So it is very important to understand game theory. Of course you may not play chess or soccer. But life games are inevitable for anyone. In that sense, learning game theory is ultimately learning a way of life.

4. Game theory (especially) does not deal with resentment or anger over other people's actions. The actions of others are like moving billiard balls and cannot be changed into your will. It means that you have no control over the reactions of others to your actions.

5. Therefore, you don't have to be angry or fret about other people's actions (in game theory). And this is the biggest lesson you can learn from game theory. It means that no matter what choice or action someone makes, it is meaningless to be angry or resentful.

6. Of course, you may not like what others do. However, if you have anger, it is not someone else who is hurt by it, but yourself. (In other words, anger toward others affects you more than it does others.)

7. Of course, there are also constructive feelings in the world. Things like love and empathy must be nurtured and developed to lead us to happiness. However, anger, hatred, and resentment can easily plunge our lives into a swamp of misfortune.

8. Therefore, love is raised and anger is controlled, and that is the "Ataraxia (=calm)" pursued by ancient Greek philosophers.

9. Controlling anger is a (very) specific effort to manage emotions and grow the size of happiness and success. Negative emotions such as hatred, envy, irritation, injustice, and despair cause us to do things we would not normally do.

10. (In other words, anger triggered by other people's actions, no matter how much it is expressed, eventually affects my life more than the life of others. And in most cases, actions triggered by negative emotions lead our lives negatively.)

11. (So I think anger is also a factor that I have to control in the game, and I have to manage it well. And this is why we have to learn game theory.)

- Kaushik Basu, How an Economist Finds the Answer to Life