Nick, I find that the Prisoner's Dilemma is a useful way of thinking about how people's behavior can be manipulated by those with some control over the reward structure (say the prosecutor). And a PhD student (now professor) and I (now artist) did a paper on what someone without such control (say the defense attorney) can do to get them out of the prosecutor's trap.
The Tragedy of the Commons is different, and a really useful way of thinking about the need in some cases for social controls to promote cooperation. I do find that students still find the Prisoner's Dilemma cute, maybe even opens up there minds a bit to how social decision making differs from individual decision making. George On Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 3:29 PM, Nicholas Thompson < [email protected]> wrote: > George, > > you are, of course, absolutely correct. > > That is always a weakness to the PD story, which is, at base, a really > stupid way to think about cooperation issues. It is one of those ideas > which was sort of cute at the time, got into all the text books, and has > been drilled into the heads of two generations of students, but really > doesnt adequately represent the crucial variables in the situation and > should have been dropped about two decades ago. It is a case of scientific > mob thinking at its absolute worst. > > The tragedy of the commons model is much clearer and avoids all the cutsy > language that has been promoted by people who know bfa about prisoners and > their dilemmas. > > Nick > > > > Nicholas S. Thompson > Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, > Clark University ([email protected]) > http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ > http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe] > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* George Duncan <[email protected]> > *To: *The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group<[email protected]> > *Sent:* 4/3/2010 3:11:29 PM > *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Slashdot Science Story | Twins' DNA Foils Police > > What makes this not a Prisoner's Dilemma is there is no incentive for James > to rat on John and no incentive for John to rat on James. James and John > have an optimal strategy of stonewalling. > > Poor prosecutor! Hard to see how the prosecutor can set up a Prisoner's > Dilemma here, at least without deception. > > On Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 2:09 PM, Owen Densmore <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Now here's a new twist on the Prisoner's Dilemma: >> http://slashdot.org/story/10/04/03/1539224/ >> >> -- Owen >> >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >> > > > > -- > George Duncan > georgeduncanart.com > represented by Artistas de Santa Fe > www.artistasdesantafe.com > (505) 983-6895 > > Life must be understood backwards; but... it must be lived forward. > Soren Kierkegaard > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > -- George Duncan georgeduncanart.com represented by Artistas de Santa Fe www.artistasdesantafe.com (505) 983-6895 Life must be understood backwards; but... it must be lived forward. Soren Kierkegaard
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