If R can, at his own expense, improve his “enemy’s” alert system, or if he can blunt his own surprise capacity in a visible way, to hold Qr below the limit, he should do so. The principle is the same as that of two partners, somewhat distrustful, who keep two separate private padlocks on the partnership vault. If one could not afford a padlock, the other should provide it to him at his own expense; only then can they do business together.

XREF: Echoes game theory and assurance-game logic; the padlock metaphor parallels Schelling's cooperative security ideas.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 818