Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

Life, Death and Game Theory in South Africa

Although I do not wish to minimize the potential human tragedy in the mining dispute, the afficionado of game theory cannot help but be fascinated by this real-world test.

February 20, 2014 at 7:45 PM UTC

By Stephen L. Carter

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

Photographer: Mujahid Safodien/AFP/Getty Images

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When I teach my courses on the ethics of warfare, I like to tease the students with Nobel economics laureate Thomas Schelling's advice for winning a game of chicken. As you speed toward the other driver, says Schelling, toss the steering wheel out the car window, to persuade your opponent that you won't be the first to turn away. Your irrationality frightens him. He swerves first; you win.

What brings Schelling's suggestion to mind is the standoff between the South African government and the illegal gold miners trapped undergroundin an abandoned mine shaft in Benoni, not far from Johannesburg. The shaft has partly collapsed. Rescue services are at the scene, but, so far, the government has arrested any miners who make it to the surface. Those remaining underground insist they would rather die.