被起诉的机会是一项重要权利

该项权利保障了你的承诺和契约的可信度，Steven Pinker写道： Paradoxical tactics also enter into the logic of promises. A promise can secure a favor only when the beneficiary of the promise has good reason to believe it will be carried out. The promiser is thus in a better position when the beneficiary knows that the promiser is bound by his promise. The law gives companies the right to sue and the right to be sued. The right to be sued? What kind of "right" is that? It is a right that confers the power to make a promise: to enter into contracts, borrow money, and engage in business with someone who might be harmed as a result. Similarly, the law that empowers banks to foreclose on a mortgage makes it worth the bank's while to grant the mortgage, and so, paradoxically, benefits the borrower. In some societies, Schelling notes, eunuchs got the best jobs because of what they could not do. How does a hostage persuade his kidnapper not to kill him to prevent him from identifying the kidnapper in court? One option is to deliberately blind himself. A better one is to confess to a shameful secret that the kidnapper can use as blackmail. If he has no'shameful secret, he can create one by having the kidnapper photograph him in some unspeakably degrading act. 其中太监的例子太有想象力了——太监的机会建立在其不能做某些事的基础上，呵呵，说得妙。那些号称要保护购房者免遭贪婪的银行家抢走房子的政治家们，正是利用公众经常在这一点上犯糊涂，而大肆忽悠，赢取政治收益。对于寻求信用支持的人来说，最坏的情况就是，他找不到任何可以让别人相信他的抵押方法，赌天咒、发毒誓，远远比不上强大的外部约束。摆脱这种困境的一种方法是：将自己置于死地，然后向对方说：瞧，我根本没有退路，所以你可以相信我。有些男人求爱的时候好像喜欢用这一招，因为男人可以用来抵押的东西毕竟不多，而女人，极度稀缺的卵子本身就是很好的抵押品。关于承诺或威胁的可信度在博弈中的重要性，Pinker还举了一个漂亮的例子： Protesters attempt to block the construction of a nuclear power plant by lying down on the railroad tracks leading to the site. The engineer, being reasonable, has no choice but to stop the train. The railroad company counters by telling the engineer to set the throttle so that the train moves very slowly and then to jump out of the train and walk beside it. The protesters must scramble. Next time the protesters handcuff themselves to the tracks; the engineer does not dare leave the train. But the protesters must be certain the engineer sees them in enough time to stop. The company assigns the next train to a nearsighted engineer.