How An Informed Minority Took Over The World’s Biggest Firms
Information asymmetry. Symmetrical presentations of asymmetrical systems. These are drier than a cracker that’s been baked too long, and I’ll use werewolves so I don’t put you to sleep.
You must understand information asymmetry and how to bypass it to have a place in an AI-augmented future. Social media weaponized our habits and compulsions to maximize our time on their platforms. GenAI can weaponize information asymmetry to gain control in ways that will make social media’s efforts look amateurish.
Firewalls protect computers from tampering, and we must develop firewalls around our minds. The Gatekeeper’s Lament is a thought exercise that will explain why we’re so vulnerable to information asymmetry and how to turn the tables on information asymmetry attacks.
The Werewolf Game: The Dynamics Of Information Asymmetry
The Werewolf Game is a social deduction game where an informed minority (werewolves) attempts to eliminate an uninformed majority (villagers). The game progresses in rounds. The werewolves choose a villager to eliminate while everyone has their back turned or eyes closed. Everyone opens their eyes, and the villager leaves the game. The group spends the next phase trying to guess who one of the wolves is and eliminate the person from the group.
If you play this game twenty times, the villagers might win once. **I couldn’t find the original paper or group that proposed the werewolf game, but it’s been used for at least 20 years.** Strategists are dangerous because they have tricks that few people know exist. We build games in the real world and design the rules to optimize for our desired outcomes. To people who don’t know how games are built in the real world, a strategist is just defining deliverables and taking the initiative forward.
Implementing a social deduction game in the real world is insidious because the strategist uses information asymmetry to build an unfair advantage for themselves, the Gatekeeper’s Advantage. I’ll explain the game and how it’s built. Then, I’ll explain the counter-strategy that neutralizes it, the Gatekeeper’s Lament.
In all social deduction games, players attempt to uncover hidden information through reasoning, observation, and social interaction. Players are broken into two or more factions. At least one possesses secret information or roles and if those are discovered, they lose the game. If they maintain secrecy, they win. In the real world, a strategist must hide their true intention until the game is built, and they use information asymmetry to cover their tracks.
In social deduction games, the only tools available to players are communication, bluffing, and deception. Among Us is a popular social deduction game. When one group possesses knowledge that’s critical to another group’s success, both groups‘ objectives must be brought into alignment through incentives. However, social deduction games are designed to make that impossible.
Many fields use games to learn the dynamics of social systems and power. Nowhere is that more relevant than in businesses. Information asymmetry is a powerful tool that allows a small group to control a business without formal authority. The top-level game design reverses the power dynamic. The werewolf game is how strategists avoid detection while implementing the top-level game.