In the game of Chicken, throwing away your own steering wheel can be a winning move

Two drivers race toward each other; whoever swerves first is 'chicken' and loses face, but if neither swerves, both crash. Game theorist Thomas Schelling showed the trick is to credibly commit to not swerving — visibly ripping out your own steering wheel forces the other driver to yield. He used the model to explain Cold War brinkmanship, including the Cuban Missile Crisis.

— Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict — book, 1960
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