PRISONER’S DILEMMA AND ITS REAL LIFE
APPLICATIONS
The prisoner’s
dilemma is a situation under the economic concept, Game Theory, which attempts
to define the thinking of individuals under pressure. he prisoner's dilemma is
a standard example that shows why two
completely "rational" individuals might not cooperate, even if it
appears that it is in their best interests to do so. It was originally framed
by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher working at RAND in 1950. Albert W. Tucker
formalized the game with prison sentence rewards and named it, "prisoner's
dilemma" (Poundstone, 1992), presenting it as follows:
Two members
of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary
confinement with no means of communicating with the other. The prosecutors lack
sufficient evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge. They hope to
get both sentenced to a year in prison on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the
prosecutors offer each prisoner a bargain. Each prisoner is given the
opportunity either to: betray the other by testifying that the other committed
the crime, or to cooperate with the other by remaining silent. The offer is:
If A and B
each betray the other, each of them serves 2 years in prison
If A betrays
B but B remains silent, A will be set free and B will serve 3 years in prison
(and vice versa)
If A and B
both remain silent, both of them will only serve 1 year in prison (on the
lesser charge)
Prisoner's
dilemma payoff matrix
|
||
B
A
|
B stays
silent |
B
betrays |
A stays
silent |
-1
-1
|
0
-3
|
A
betrays |
-3
0
|
-2
-2
|
Economists believe
that in a rational situation, the first instance is bound to happen, because
both individuals would only want to save themselves.
This could be applied to commonplace
situations as well. In fact the concept of game theory was part of a famous
British T.V show called as Golden Balls which pitted individuals against each
other. The two contestants would have a choice to Split or Steal, a certain
amount of money.
The prisoner’s
dilemma has applications in political situations such as the Brexit as well. In
any case, Britain was under pressure. If it walked out of the European Union,
then it would mean that that Britain’s share of the market would no longer
exist and its economy would be rattled by this sudden change. However, if
Britain decided to stay, then it would chaos and civil conflict from within all
its countries, causing more problems. Also, if the European Union pushed out
Britain out of its organization, then it would lose a significant contributor
in its budget and the European Market would dip. Finally Britain opted out, and
the changes were significantly visible.
The Prisoner’s
Dilemma is applicable to simple situations such as two individuals struck in a
traffic jam, because they each want to go in opposite directions. Here, they
either have the option to work it out, with both cooperating, or they can both
ignore each other and try to wrestle their way out, which may lead to an
accident. Also one might move forward and one might try to cooperate, which
again might lead to an accident.
Thus the
concept of Prisoner’s Dilemma can be applied anywhere, as long as the outcomes
are considered.
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