If you are a Star Trek fan, or have seen Star Trek II or the new Star Trek movie, you would at least be vaguely aware of the Kobayashi Maru. For the completely uninitiated, it is one of the tests to examine the character of cadets in a no-win situation. The simulation was meant to be unwinnable, resulting in loss of lives no matter what choice the cadet made. The goal was to check how the cadet solves an ethical dilemma.
The test, by itself, is a very restrictive view limited to war time strategies. However, we all have faced our own Kobayashi Maru at some point in life - a situation where we lose no matter what we do. It can be in our professional lives, or our romantic persuasions or in inter-personal interactions; it can be a big decision that involves a makeover of lives from that point on or maybe just an insignificant choice that made a difference of a few cents to a grocery bill. The point here is not the scale of it, but the willingness to tackle it.
So, how do we know that we are staring our Kobayashi Maru right in the eyes? That is the thing - often we don't even realize that we are in it till we are on the other side of it. When we are in a no-win situation, we often don't know that it is a no-win situation. As persistent, stubborn children of Adam (or Eve), we keep on searching for possible solutions to the problem, trying to find some way which doesn't lead to an absolute loss. From one person to another, obviously, the number of attempts to solving it varies. But, it is not usually till the last few attempts that the fear of the Kobayashi Maru sets in. At first, it is just a nagging fear that we might be in a situation where we can possibly call ourselves "screwed". As we exhaust the remaining few solutions to no end, the fear grows into a wrecking ball that smashes through the remainder of confidence and hope we were holding onto. As the last attempt (or the one more last attempt) fails, we put our hands on our head and tell ourselves that this is it - this is where there is no winning; this is the endgame without the "one" future; this is Leonidas and his 300.
Speaking of Leonidas and his 300, that is perhaps one of the examples where someone knew beforehand that the situation is a no-win situation and yet went on to tackle it the best way he could - pretty much head-on. That is probably the Utopian way of handling a pre-identified no-win - with bravado and gusto no matter what the outcome. In fact, when you come to think of it, the Bhagwad Geeta also teaches the importance of non-goal oriented (or action-oriented) way of life. The crux of it is basically that the focus of our life should be on the actions that we perform - we should give it our 100 percent, always, inevitably, and keep on improving as we go along. It is not simple to do that as well, since it requires constant sincerity and we all know sincerity dwindles in the absense of motivation (and, psst, motivation comes from the end goals for which we are working). But action-orientation does solve the problem to some extent. If you are not worried about a win, it doesn't matter if it is a no-win game. All you have to worry about is your actions and how well you perform. As long as your actions allow you to have a peaceful sleep after, it is immaterial whether you win or lose.
But we do not live in a world where Lord Krishna is there to guide everyone. Right from day 1 of our lives, we are oriented towards goals. From walking a couple of steps to our favorite parent, to clearing an exam to get a cellphone (our generation did it for bicycles, believe me), to buying a total purse-burning wrist-watch, to landing the huge deal we are working on, to walking a couple of steps to our bed nearby - we are always trained to achieve goals. Not just that, those goals are the motivation that we need in order to accomplish the actions associated with it. How much effort would you really put in a test if you knew you are bound to flunk? You would probably spend the night watching Netflix after a subtle (or maybe even conspicuous) declaration of "hell with it". Now you see how that becomes a problem - we are not equipped to deal with our Kobayashi Maru. Nobody tells us that it is okay to lose as long as we tried; it is okay to come second or third or 100th in a race; it is okay to not land a deal - it is okay to fall! The source of motivation has to be transitioned to excellence instead of success. As long as we, as a society, do not start believing in the concept of actions and keep our emphasis strictly on the end results, we will be haunted by our Kobayashi Maru consistently. We will keep on seeing that ship go up in flames every night in our dreams and wake up screaming in hot sweat. It is up to us to win the Kobayashi Maru by not playing to win.
The test, by itself, is a very restrictive view limited to war time strategies. However, we all have faced our own Kobayashi Maru at some point in life - a situation where we lose no matter what we do. It can be in our professional lives, or our romantic persuasions or in inter-personal interactions; it can be a big decision that involves a makeover of lives from that point on or maybe just an insignificant choice that made a difference of a few cents to a grocery bill. The point here is not the scale of it, but the willingness to tackle it.
So, how do we know that we are staring our Kobayashi Maru right in the eyes? That is the thing - often we don't even realize that we are in it till we are on the other side of it. When we are in a no-win situation, we often don't know that it is a no-win situation. As persistent, stubborn children of Adam (or Eve), we keep on searching for possible solutions to the problem, trying to find some way which doesn't lead to an absolute loss. From one person to another, obviously, the number of attempts to solving it varies. But, it is not usually till the last few attempts that the fear of the Kobayashi Maru sets in. At first, it is just a nagging fear that we might be in a situation where we can possibly call ourselves "screwed". As we exhaust the remaining few solutions to no end, the fear grows into a wrecking ball that smashes through the remainder of confidence and hope we were holding onto. As the last attempt (or the one more last attempt) fails, we put our hands on our head and tell ourselves that this is it - this is where there is no winning; this is the endgame without the "one" future; this is Leonidas and his 300.
Speaking of Leonidas and his 300, that is perhaps one of the examples where someone knew beforehand that the situation is a no-win situation and yet went on to tackle it the best way he could - pretty much head-on. That is probably the Utopian way of handling a pre-identified no-win - with bravado and gusto no matter what the outcome. In fact, when you come to think of it, the Bhagwad Geeta also teaches the importance of non-goal oriented (or action-oriented) way of life. The crux of it is basically that the focus of our life should be on the actions that we perform - we should give it our 100 percent, always, inevitably, and keep on improving as we go along. It is not simple to do that as well, since it requires constant sincerity and we all know sincerity dwindles in the absense of motivation (and, psst, motivation comes from the end goals for which we are working). But action-orientation does solve the problem to some extent. If you are not worried about a win, it doesn't matter if it is a no-win game. All you have to worry about is your actions and how well you perform. As long as your actions allow you to have a peaceful sleep after, it is immaterial whether you win or lose.
But we do not live in a world where Lord Krishna is there to guide everyone. Right from day 1 of our lives, we are oriented towards goals. From walking a couple of steps to our favorite parent, to clearing an exam to get a cellphone (our generation did it for bicycles, believe me), to buying a total purse-burning wrist-watch, to landing the huge deal we are working on, to walking a couple of steps to our bed nearby - we are always trained to achieve goals. Not just that, those goals are the motivation that we need in order to accomplish the actions associated with it. How much effort would you really put in a test if you knew you are bound to flunk? You would probably spend the night watching Netflix after a subtle (or maybe even conspicuous) declaration of "hell with it". Now you see how that becomes a problem - we are not equipped to deal with our Kobayashi Maru. Nobody tells us that it is okay to lose as long as we tried; it is okay to come second or third or 100th in a race; it is okay to not land a deal - it is okay to fall! The source of motivation has to be transitioned to excellence instead of success. As long as we, as a society, do not start believing in the concept of actions and keep our emphasis strictly on the end results, we will be haunted by our Kobayashi Maru consistently. We will keep on seeing that ship go up in flames every night in our dreams and wake up screaming in hot sweat. It is up to us to win the Kobayashi Maru by not playing to win.
