Prisoner’s dilemma is a problem commonly featured in game theory. Each player is given an option to be either nice or nasty. Each combination of player plays multiple number of rounds. When tested against different strategies, it is found that the best performing strategies are :
- nice first ( they don’t start the provoking),
- retaliatory (when opponent is nasty they also resond nasty),
- forgiving (they don’t hold grudges),
- clear (their strategies are clear for opponent to interpret) and
- generous (when the opponent has been nasty, they do not retaliate 10℅ of the time )
I saw this and immediately thought about Nicky Case’s game on The Evolution of Trust. I was really glad to see it was referenced in the video as the main inspiration for it!
(https://ncase.me/trust) - Link because I think everyone should try it for themselves as well.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I wonder how well and broadly these truths are applied in human politics. And what are the best strategies to moving towards more success?
It explains why the most selfish people often lack foresight and are not smart outside of a very narrow focus.
How does this explain that the world is essentially ruled by ruthless billionnaires? The strategies referenced may be vindicated, but that doesn’t preclude them from being eclipsed by another, even greater strategy, that of total domination.
Or is anyone going to tell me straight-faced that all those people are great examples of our species and should be revered? None of them got where they are by playing nice.
Only works when there is a genuine risk of retaliation equal or worse than the damage done, i.e.:
- There are multiple rounds or each round is done is such a way that the second person has a real choice, or in other words people can’t just make a one-sided choice, cash their gains and dissapear but instead face consequences immediatelly or on subsequent rounds.
- Both sides have similar power to inflict hurt on the other side.
In fact various experiments from Behavioural Economics similar to these and done with conditions more like I describe show exactly that effect: far fewer behave nicelly and are generous and forgiving when others can’t meaningfully retaliate.
It’s not by chance that most situations in real life of somebody taking advantage of somebody else either involve a context where the abuser can just extract a gain and dissapear, escaping retaliation, or there is a massive power imballance so the victim can’t actually retaliate in any meaningfull way (say, the “boss” vs an employee that can easilly be fired or an elected politician making choices that hurt a minority of electors).
That’s why I say we bring back dueling!
