Rationally irrational

There's always two sides to the same coin. Perhaps it have always been the same side after all, just a different angle of looking at things. Here, lets examine what is rationality.

Wikipedia states that rationality is associated with the idea of reason. This reason could be logic, motive, or(/and)the process where an item useful to us is maximised and the item harmful to us minimised.

To define rationality, you might want to look at irrationality for a benchmark. After all, how to judge if a person is good if you do not have a bad person as benchmark? Irrationality is a polite way to that a person is insane, mad, or just plain dumb.

But I think that rationality and irrationality are really the 2 equal sides of the same coin. There is something called rationally irrational. A person could be irrational for a reason.

There is this theory called "Madman Theory". If you can convince your opponent that you are irrational, and commit yourself to crazy acts, your opponent might be sufficiently intimidated enough to back off. And you win without even spending effort in a fight. This was what happened during the Cold War. President Nixon of USA wanted to convinve the Russians that he was not to be trifled with. That he was absolutely irrational and might blow everyone up if they were not careful. The Russians being fearful of "Madman Nixon" backed down eventually.

I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I've reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We'll just slip the word to them that, 'for God's sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about Communism. We can't restrain him when he's angry -- and he has his hand on the nuclear button' -- and Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace.

This calculated irrationality had always been used from past ages. Armies fighting in foriegn lands would win because their Generals had burnt the bridges. It seemed like the ultimate madman act, but by burning the route home, the soldiers knew that they had only one way to get home; that is to exterminate their foes. The soldiers would fight like madman and get out alive. Cornering yourself made you fight like any other corenered dog. It was actually a rational act, because by reducing your own options, you actually made yourself more focused.

This in more technical terms was called reducing one's opportunity cost. Say you really want to study, but this studying is costing you because your next best activity was to watch TV. It seems like the ultimate madman act to smash the TV after that, but you have made yourself 100% committed to studying because there is no opportunity costs left.Rationally irrational.

Think about it. The next time you see people behaving irrationally, think again. They are being crazy for a reason.