9 Divination

Two new restaurants (Enrique’s and Pad Thai House) just opened up.  You and your friends (cooperation partners) are evenly split on which one to go to since you can only afford to go to one.  Things start to get heated.  In order to preserve your cooperative relationships, you decide to flip a coin; heads for Enrique’s and tails for Pad Thai House.  You and your friends agree to put animosity aside and abide by the results of the coin toss.  In other words, if the restaurant that the coin chooses ends up being bad, it is the coin’s fault and no one else’s.

Like flipping a coin, divination functions to reduce acrimony – words and actions that can end cooperative relationships – and blame when it comes to decision-making.  A compromise is being made when everyone is on board with the decision the coin or other divination technique makes.  And, since compromise is a form of cooperation, divination promotes cooperation among those that engage in it.

Take for instance going to a Hong Kong fortune teller to determine the best day for you and your partner’s outdoor wedding.  You both accept the fortune teller’s supernatural claim that the ancestors or gods are making the decision and agree to take their advice.  Unfortunately, the day of the wedding comes and there’s a terrible storm.  Neither you nor your partner can blame each other for this.  You could blame the fortune teller, but they would say it was the will of the ancestors or gods.

So, with no living potential cooperation partners left to blame, the blame in this situation essentially fizzles out into the ether, letting cooperation resume.