Blogs

Every compelling opening uses one of five fundamental hooks-or combines them strategically. These aren’t arbitrary categories. They represent the primary ways humans process story: through curiosity (question), assertion (statement), movement (action), voice (dialogue), or immersion (setting). Understanding each type lets you choose the right tool for your specific story. Hook Type 1: The Question What It Does Poses an explicit or implicit question that demands an answer. The reader’s brain can’t help but seek resolution. The gap between question and answer creates tension that pulls them forward. ...

Auction Theory: The Mathematics of Bidding Wars In 1994, the U.S. government auctioned radio spectrum licenses using game theory. The result? $7.7 billion in revenue - far more than expected. In 2000, the UK’s 3G telecom auction raised $34 billion using carefully designed rules. In 2016, the FCC’s broadcast incentive auction was called “the most complex auction ever conducted” - a reverse auction followed by a forward auction, designed by game theorists. ...

Backward Induction: Solving Games by Working Backwards You’re playing chess. How do you decide your next move? Master players don’t just think one move ahead - they think many moves ahead, anticipating their opponent’s responses, then their own responses to those responses, and so on. This is backward induction - one of game theory’s most powerful techniques. Instead of reasoning forward from the start, you reason backward from the end. ...

There are two ways to enter a pool: dive into the deep end or wade in from the shallow. Stories work the same way. A cold open throws readers into the deep end-action, conflict, mystery-with no preamble. A warm open lets readers acclimate-introducing character, setting, voice-before complications arise. Neither is inherently better. The choice depends on what your story needs and what your reader expects. The Cold Open: Immediate Immersion Definition A cold open begins mid-crisis: ...

Mixed Strategies: Why You Should Be Unpredictable You’ve learned about dominant strategies and Nash equilibria in pure strategies. But what happens when there’s no pure strategy Nash equilibrium? What if being predictable is your worst enemy? Welcome to the world of mixed strategies - where randomness becomes your most powerful weapon. The Problem with Being Predictable Imagine you’re a goalkeeper facing a penalty kick. You can dive left or right. The striker can shoot left or right. If you both go the same way, the striker scores. If you guess correctly, you save. ...

Repeated Games: How Cooperation Emerges from Self-Interest In the Prisoner’s Dilemma, rational players defect. In the Tragedy of the Commons, rational actors destroy shared resources. One-shot game theory seems to paint a bleak picture: selfishness always wins. But real life isn’t a series of one-shot games. We interact with the same people, companies, and countries repeatedly. And this changes everything. Welcome to repeated games - where cooperation emerges not from altruism, but from enlightened self-interest. ...

The Tragedy of the Commons: When Self-Interest Destroys Everything Imagine a village where everyone shares a common grazing field. Each villager rationally decides to add one more cow to maximize their profit. Each individual decision makes sense. But collectively, they destroy the field that sustains them all. This is the Tragedy of the Commons - one of the most important concepts in game theory, economics, and environmental science. It explains why rational individuals often destroy the very resources they depend on. ...

The Ultimatum Game: Are Humans Really Rational? Imagine this: I give you $100 and ask you to propose how to split it with a stranger. There’s one catch - if the stranger rejects your offer, neither of you gets anything. Game theory predicts you’ll offer $1 and keep $99. After all, $1 is better than $0, so the stranger should accept. In reality? Most people offer $40-50, and offers below $30 are frequently rejected. ...

Why does everyone in the United States drive on the right side of the road? Not because it’s better than driving on the left-the British drive on the left and do just fine. We drive on the right because everyone else drives on the right. This is a coordination game-a situation where the key is not beating others, but matching them. These games are everywhere, and they reveal fascinating insights about how societies form conventions, standards, and norms. ...

Imagine a game where one strategy is best no matter what your opponent does. You don’t need to predict their behavior, guess their intentions, or outthink them. You just pick the dominant strategy and you’re done. This is the simplest situation in game theory-and when you have a dominant strategy, your decision becomes trivial. Let’s understand this powerful concept. What is a Dominant Strategy? A dominant strategy is a strategy that gives you a better outcome than any other strategy, regardless of what your opponents do. ...