AI analysis has become a blessing and a curse. If nothing else, it certainly provides concrete proof that all of my moves are wrong. Whether it’s -0.02% or -90.2%, my moves are all over the board. In a sense, this makes every game about catching the other player’s mistakes. I sometimes wonder if the original word for GO translates as “Wow! Yet another bad move, dummy!”
Speaking of mistake management, the ancient Greek word for marriage is γάμος (gámos) which based on experience must also translate as “Are you serious right now?” If a typical GO games involves 100+ moves per player, all of which are technically mistakes, then a typical day of me being married involves well over 100 bad decisions as well. It’s like my wife is the AI, and no matter what I do, she’s like all “-0.02%” or “-90.2%”
For example, okay, even though I’m kinduv old I still eat breakfast cereal, and not just for breakfast. Any time of day or night, I might have a bowl. And heaven forbid, I forget to put the cereal box back in the cupboard! That is an error my Mistake AI (aka my wife) will be quick to point out, “Are you serious right now?” Of course, if GO is about mistake management, then so is my marriage. It’s not the mistake that gets me in trouble—it’s whatever I do next that matters. In GO, we try to make moves that help our past moves make sense.
Cereal boxes! First of all, don’t even try to say something like, “I usually put them away, you only see the ones I forget.” Mistake, -99.9%!!! Since my wife sees 100% of the cereal boxes I forget to put away—then ones I did actually put away don’t exist in her world. No point in telling her about things that don’t exist. I might as well say the cereal box was left out by bigfoot, a yeti, or the Trix rabbit.
Second, don’t even try to play it like, “I’ll remember next time.” MISTAKE, -99.99999997%. You see, if I say that, and then if I ever, ever, ever even 10 or 20 years later, forget to put a cereal box away, my wife will come down on me like a ton of slate and shell GO stones. BOOM!
Mistake management, hmmm. In GO, in some cases, when you realize that you made a mistake and there’s no good move locally, your best option might be a well-timed tenuki- just play elsewhere for now! THAT is my move here too. If my wife tries to corner me with a forgotten cereal box, I’ll say something like, “This whole cereal box thing seems to have you a little stressed. Let me take you out to dinner and later I’ll massage your feet.” That’s how I turn the whole situation around. Although, as I read this back, I can see, as usual, no matter how I play, my wife’s gonna win!