Prisoner’s dilemma
By: Niels Kornerup
You and your partner in crime are caught and are put on trial with some weird rules: 1) You and your partner each get a chance to testify. 2) If neither of you testify, you each are sentenced with four years. 3) If both of you testify, you each are sentenced with six years. 4) If one of you testify, that person will get out free and the other is sentenced for 10 years.
Art by: Christopher X Jon Jensen and Greg Riestenberg
Now, it is always better for the individual to testify; however, it is better for the whole for the individual to be silent. Obviously, the best strategy is to testify because you can never trust your partner; however, the best possible outcome then becomes impossible. The game really becomes one of psychology, can you trust the other player or are they going to backstab you? You will feel horrible if you are the one who gets out free, but you can’t trust that the other person will be as sympathetic towards you. Multiple countries own nuclear weapons, which have the capacity to wipe out other countries that have Nuclear weapons. If two countries are at war, they both want to get rid of the other. If both of them have Nuclear weapons, they both have the capacity to wipe out the other. If nether side fires, the population of both sides will remain intact. If one side fires at the other, that side will win the war and the other’s population will be exterminated. If both sides fire at each other, both populations will be exterminated and both sides will lose.
May 2013
Reason
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