Applied Game Theory

The use of game theory’s mathematical models—which analyze strategic interactions between rational decision-makers—to solve real-world problems in economics, business, politics, and biology. It moves beyond the textbook “Prisoner’s Dilemma” to design auctions, negotiate treaties, price products, or even schedule airport security checks. Practitioners don’t just predict what players will do; they design the rules of the “game” itself to incentivize better outcomes, like creating a market that naturally reduces pollution or a contract that aligns an employee’s interests with the company’s.

Example: “The city used applied game theory to fix traffic. Instead of just adding lights, they made each traffic signal an ‘agent’ in a game, rewarded for keeping cars moving on its road but penalized for creating gridlock on intersecting streets. The signals started cooperating, learning to form ‘green waves.’ They didn’t just react to traffic; they played a city-sized game of optimization and won.”

by Abzunammu February 2, 2026

Historical Game Theory

The analytical approach of using game theory to model and understand the strategic decisions of historical actors—kings, generals, diplomats, revolutionaries. It asks: given their information, incentives, and the likely actions of their rivals, was going to war, signing a treaty, or betraying an ally a “rational” move? This doesn’t reduce history to math, but provides a sharp lens to cut through narrative and see the cold, strategic calculus behind pivotal moments.

Example: “A historical game theory analysis of the Cuban Missile Crisis frames it not as a moral showdown, but as a brutal game of ‘Chicken’ between Kennedy and Khrushchev. Each move—the blockade, the secret deal to remove missiles from Turkey—was a strategic play to force the other to swerve (back down) without triggering mutual annihilation. It shows how they rationally danced on the edge of an irrational abyss.”

by Abzunammu February 2, 2026

Social Game Theory

The application of game theory to everyday interpersonal and social dynamics—friendship, reputation, gossip, dating, and office politics. It decodes the unspoken rules and strategies behind why you buy a round of drinks, how gossip spreads, or the subtle dance of a flirtation. It treats social life as a series of iterated games where the payoff is social capital, trust, or mating success.

Example: “Explaining why I always help my neighbor move his couch, my friend used social game theory: ‘It’s an iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma. You cooperate (help) to build trust and reciprocal cooperation. If you defect (refuse), you save an afternoon but lose future help and damage your reputation in our social network. The couch isn’t furniture; it’s a token in a long-term trust game.’”

by Abzunammu February 2, 2026

Psychohistory Theory

The grand, fictional social science framework from Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, proposing that the future of galactic civilizations can be predicted with mathematical certainty through the analysis of mass human behavior. The core axiom is that while individual actions are random, the behavior of very large populations is statistically predictable, much like the physics of gases. This theory posits that a sufficiently advanced mathematical model could forecast societal collapse, dark ages, and recoveries millennia in advance, allowing a small, knowledgeable elite to guide history with minimal, precisely calculated interventions. It's history as a deterministic physics problem, where humanity is the equation.

Example: "Our corporate strategy team thinks they're using Psychohistory Theory. They feed social media sentiment, commodity prices, and birth rates into a model that spits out a 78% probability of a 'cultural fatigue event' in our key demographic by Q4. They're not predicting the fall of the Galactic Empire, but they did buy all the ad space for mindfulness apps six months before the burnout wave hit. They guide markets the way Hari Seldon guided millennia."

by Abzunammu February 2, 2026

Neurohistory Theory

An emerging, interdisciplinary theoretical framework that argues the course of human history cannot be understood without studying the evolutionary biology and cognitive wiring of the human brain. It posits that historical forces—wars, religious movements, economic systems—are downstream effects of deep-seated neural drives: our craving for status, our tribalism, our fear responses to scarcity, and our cognitive biases. The theory seeks to explain why certain historical patterns recur by grounding them in the non-negotiable hardware of the human mind, treating culture as software running on ancient, sometimes buggy, cerebral processors.

*Example: "A Neurohistory Theory analysis of the 20th century wouldn't start with treaties, but with the brain's dopaminergic reward system. It would argue that the rise of fascism and consumerism are two sides of the same coin: both are ultra-efficient at hijacking our primal neural circuits for hierarchy and acquisition. The propaganda poster and the billboard, according to this theory, are just different stimuli for the same ancient mammalian brain."*

by Abzunammu February 2, 2026

Neuropsychohistory Theory

The speculative, ultimate synthesis: a theoretical model that attempts to merge the macro-scale statistical prediction of Psychohistory with the micro-scale biological mechanisms of Neurohistory. This theoretical framework proposes that by modeling how technologies, diets, toxins, and media environments physically alter collective brain function (neuroplasticity, stress hormone baselines, attention spans), one could predict large-scale shifts in societal stability, political trends, and cultural innovation. It's the quest for a grand unified theory of history where biology provides the variables for the equations of destiny.

*Example: "The think tank's 'Neuropsychohistory Theory' report was controversial. It didn't just analyze GDP; it modeled how rising atmospheric CO2 impairs complex decision-making and increases aggression. Their prediction: a statistically inevitable 15% global rise in intra-state conflict by 2040, not due to ideology, but due to the gradual, worldwide carbon poisoning of the prefrontal cortex. They were plotting the future of civilization on a graph where the x-axis was time and the y-axis was parts per million and cortisol levels."*

by Abzunammu February 2, 2026

Cognitive History Theory

A theoretical approach that studies history through the evolution of thinking tools and conceptual frameworks—the "cognitive technologies" that reshape how societies process information, reason, and perceive reality. It focuses on inventions like writing, the alphabet, the printing press, double-entry bookkeeping, clocks, and now digital algorithms, arguing that these tools don't just convey ideas; they fundamentally restructure the collective mind, enabling new forms of social, economic, and political organization. History is seen as the story of the externalization and augmentation of human cognition.

Example: "A Cognitive History Theory take on the Renaissance wouldn't start with art, but with the widespread adoption of linear perspective and reliable maritime clocks. Perspective trained an entire civilization to see the world through a single, mathematical lens, fostering individualism. The clock created a new concept of standardized, mechanical time, enabling global trade. The theory argues we didn't just have new thoughts; we got new brains, built from the tools we invented to see and measure the world."

by Abzunammu February 2, 2026