Deterrence comes up in conflicts but you may have never realized that it’s a formal study in game theory.

Anytime you want to dissuade someone from attacking you or stealing from you you are engaged in deterrence.

And there are two primary types of deterrence: punishment and denial.

When we deter by punishment, we mean that the consequences to you for having violated My space to be so severe that it won’t be worth it.

When we deter by denial, we mean that your efforts will be thwarted by our counter-moves.

It’s important to note that this exercise does not take place on the court but in the mind and calculations of your enemy.

That said, you should know that “enemies” or adversaries do not always operate according to logic. It is only because of illogical decisions made from idiosyncracy and results that are the consequence of serendipity (an especially hard right to the chin or a slip on a banana peel) that makes this whole field interesting. Otherwise we know that every move made would be according to whatever your Android phone or GPT app told you to do. People don’t operate that way and it’s dangerous to, anyway.

If you’re always logical then you are always predictable.

Unless you are an engineer writing software for hundreds of missiles to be launched in an airstrike against other engineers in the same profession then you are safe to assume that your adversary is operating according to logic, idiosyncracy and doctrine. Moderators on this activity will be chance or serendipity. You don’t know how things will go until you get started.

Finally I leave you with a few considerations:

1. You must be able to carry out your threats.

Telling the cops that you’re going to sue them when they know damn well that you hardly have time to care for your day-to-day activities isn’t going to stop them from assaulting you. 

2. You must be a credible threat.

This is where your reputation comes into play. If your adversary smells weakness or a lack of commitment or resources to carry out your threats they will proceed. This is also why kings, gangsters, Freemasons, lords are often ruthless when dealing with traitors or enemies. The fear instilled from witnesses of past threats handled by the lord or king of their land is enough to scare most men into compliance quickly lest they face the same fate.

3. Your communication must be clear.

If your enemy is moving ships into a defensive position, you must not mistake it for an offensive one. And vice-versa. You must not tell them not to cross a line and then get careless or cool off about seeing them cross that line at a later date. If you do so, then your deterrence will be watered down and they will begin to cross it again getting you acclimated to seeing it crossed not the other way around.

With these principles as your guide you can start looking at ways you can deter others from offensive actions against you. And although being a hard liner sounds like a good position to take on all threats be careful doing so. Kings and lords and gangsters are in a unique position–they are usually “set” or in a position where they don’t depend upon others outside of their gangs. This is relevant because if you’re not wealthy and if you don’t have a large family to do business with then you may find yourself in need of a break or mercy at some time and find that members of your community will not extend it to you due to your reputation for ruthlessness. Reasonableness is valued by everyone. Kings and Presidents have a large number of people and infrastructure to keep alive and they are understandably ruthless about protecting those lives and industry.

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