For the Duke Report and Rounding the Earth audience members that prefer to have robots discus the previous post, “Survivor, The Apprentice, and the Game Theory of Governance,” here you go!
Original post:
This analysis argues that popular reality competition shows like Survivor and The Apprentice served as models for new political structures, training audiences to recognize authority through performance, elimination, and control of perception, rather than traditional legal or governmental systems. These shows, particularly The Apprentice featuring Donald Trump, are presented as applications of non-cooperative game theory, where individuals prioritize their own advantage in unstable systems. The text links this phenomenon to political theories proposing centralized executive authority and suggests a connection between the rise of televised sovereign figures and the acceptance of such leadership models in real-world politics. It concludes that these entertainment formats effectively simulated a type of governance, conditioning audiences to accept a sovereign figure produced through spectacle and ritual.
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