The evolution of cooperation!

I just remembered! From now on, I'll start talking about random things that I find interesting, okay? Some might be interesting...

And some might not.

Such as...

The evolution of cooperation!

Well, I got the idea from a book that my mom had checked out (all the books were put together). The title is The Evolution of Cooperation.

Anyhow, it talks about whether you should cooperate with people, such as a friend if he/she doesn't do anything in return or you try to cooperate with strangers. The main question is that should you cooperate, or should you not?

Strangely, this is quite similar to a Game Theory program that I went to during the summer of 2005.

For example, it talks about the...

Prisoner's Dilemna!

It's a perfect example of one such ways in whether you cooperate or not.

Here's a diagram:

---------------Player 2 doesn't confess. ----Player 2 confesses.
_____________________________________________

Player 1 doesn't---------(0, 0) --------------------(-2, 1)
confess.

Player 1 confesses.------(1, -2) --------------------(-1, -1)




First of all, the numbers in the paranthesis are payoffs (the value of the outcome for the player; the higher the payoff for the player, the better it is for him or her). Also note that the first payoff is for the row player, while the second is the payoff for the column player.

This is how the story goes:

The two players are two prisoners, arrested for a joint crime, who are being interrogated in seperate rooms. The clever district attorney tells each one that

- if one of them confesses and the other does not, the confessor will get a reward (payoff +1) and his partner will get a heavy sentence (payoff -2).

- if both confess, each will get a light sentence (payoff -1).

And,

- if neither confesses, both will go free (payoff 0).

Now, there is no communication, so both would be after their own interests.

Notice that if either one confess, they each would have a better payoff no matter what the other chose.

Unfortunately, this applies to both, so if they both confess, then they both would get a sentence, which is worse than if they both hadn't confess.

Strange, isn't it?