How I became a Predictive, Analytical Futurist — Part 2
It all started with game theory
I am a statistically-based, Bayesian, predictive forecasting futurist.
I know that is a mouthful. Still there is no shorter, and more descriptive way of presenting what it is that I do.
When I tell people what I do, at some social event, I can see their eyes glaze over. All except, the special person who understands what I do, “gets it immediately.” They are fascinated by the very idea of it and are likely to ask. “How accurate are you at this?”
I usually answer honestly and without arrogance, “Very!”
Here then, is a series of stories, of how I went from being a kid in the Bronx who failed math to become a rational, deductive, statistically accurate, and deeply intuitive soothsayer.
Here is Part 1 of this series
Part 2 Continued….
During the conversation with this amazing couple, I asked him how many different types of game theory there were?
He smiled and said “thousands. Maybe millions”
“Where can I find a list of them.” I asked.
“There is no one complete list”, was the response.
“How can this be?”
“Because most of life can be defined as a game. A stockbroker cares about stockbroker games but may have no interest in the game of physics or medicine or auto repair.”
“Everything is a game?” I asked.
“I don’t know about everything, but certainly most things can be experienced as a game. Game theory was originally a mathematician’s term but here in the 21st century it has become an umbrella term for thousands of systematic behaviors. Any defined, recognizable, rational approach to any interaction including relationships in business, spirituality, competition, sports, romance and even interactions with nonhuman players such as computers, animals, and plants can be considered a game.”
“What is my next step?” I asked him.
Another Next Step
“Look” he said with a smile as he placed his hand on top of mine. “You have something very special here.”
You are not an academic and you haven’t even come to this knowledge…this passion you have through traditional channels. It is unlikely that you will teach this in college. It is unlikely that most people would even understand what you are doing. Academics will question it, others will be jealous, some will ridicule it, and still others just won’t understand it. Still, what you are doing here, it is more than worthwhile — it is an extraordinary thing. You can really serve others if you play the game right.”
I was overwhelmed. I felt validated, supported and excited about the possibilities ahead. I thanked him for his time, we spoke almost three hours and I left the party floating on a cloud, went home and began to create a manual based on Game Theory.
It is almost five years since that Thanksgiving. The work transformed me a healer, teacher and wellness practitioner and my work has gone through many forms and phases. This work has become massive work in progress, presently over three thousand pages in healing information and lessons and growing. Within it all are descriptions, structured in a Q & A format of over five hundred different games, all easy to understand and apply many which you have received as lessons.
I am still not very skilled at mathematics. I can add, subtract, divide and multiply but not much more and yet I can look out my window at the deck, the flowers and clouds in the sky and sense both intellectually and intuitively the elegance of the mathematics that can be used to give meaning to it all.
In time I began to link my increasingly impressive foecasting skills with my incrased understanding of game theoty.
I learned how game theory might be applied in daily life and in the arts of healing and influence, especially hypnosis. The goal of doing so? — To bring greater love, freedom, happiness, spiritual fulfillment and happiness to your clients.,
Since I first saw “A Beautiful Mind,” and the television show “Num3ers” I have explored and developed an approach to treating life as a game. In the beginning I would describe game theory to a few people and got blank stares or responses of “Huh?” and “what?
Maybe the limitation here, was my inability to describe the concepts understandably. Possibly it was their lack of interest? Clearly this all made sense to me but not to most of the people I described it too. Even people who enjoyed watching the television show “Numb3rs” often had little interest in what I was talking about. They liked the crime stories; the math that seemed to solve the crimes was of les importance to them.
Not being a mathematician, today, I know I can play around with different ideas related to the games humans play. As I previously mentioned, outside of the work of mathematicians, game theory is now an umbrella term and a loose one at that for describing thousands of systematic behaviors
As I iften say to my students, Socrates stated that “The unexamined life is not worth living” If you have an interest in examining your life, forecasting the future and then living well, then it essential to explore the application of game theory models to daily life, and yo forecasting in general.
Understanding Games
Most of us have been playing games since were little children and used the word “game” freely however if one were asked “what is the exact definition of the word dame?” most of us could not answer. Since the foundation of Life Games is built on definitions, defining exactly what a game is might be a good place to begin.
A game is a systematized activity, often for fun or entertainment, where an individual or groups of individuals must strategize, i.e. make decisions that will lead to a desirable outcome.
You can see from this definition that one can play a game alone. For instance the card game solitaire only requires one person. An individual could play basketball or any numbers of games alone and simply compete against him or herself. Of course much of life requires that we interact with others so this naturally leads to games that require more than one person. Many though not all of these games require that someone wins and someone loses. In these games another person (or more than one other person) can affect the outcome of the choices you make. This type of game is called a competitive game.
When I am hired as a predictive analyst, it is usually to dissect what is likely to happen s some competitive scenario.
In life, it is a good thing if everyone can win. Unfortunately this isn’t always possible. Often I am hired by individuals, or organizations that have found themselves in a situation where people, groups, businesses, or even governments are trying to be more successful than each other.
This is pretty much how the world works, and always has.
To be continued…
This story is a Module from my course, How to Become a Professional Futurist
If you want to study with me send me an email to [email protected]
Here is a Medium story on this subject: @wwnorton
Here is one from the archives @LewisCoaches
Learn more about my philosophy and extensive teachings here
Again to learn more about how to become a professional Futurist by studying directly with me, just email me at [email protected]. I will respond personally.
Author: Lewis Harrison is a Manifestation Coach, professional futurist (forecaster), and a philanthropy consultant. He is the creator of the Ask Lewis Mentoring Method as well as HAGT — Harrison’s Applied Game Theory. He is the Executive Director of the International Association of Healing Professionals an educational organization that offers programs around the world in Intentional Living. He is also Independent Scholar, with a passion for knowledge, personal development, self-improvement, creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. You can read all of his Medium stories at [email protected].
For a decade, Lewis was the host of a humor-based Q & A talk show on NPR (National Public Radio) affiliated WIOX FM in NY.
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