Unweaving Coorperation

You may have noticed that I haven't been my usual self recently. As it happens, this is mainly because I have retaken up my ongoing exploration of biological and sociological readings, restarting where I left off, completing John Maynard Smith's The Theory of Evolution (I'm not embarrassed to say, flying straight over my head), moving on to Robert Axelrod's The Evolution of Cooperation, as per the recommendation by my good friend. The title is slightly misleading as it suggests particular investigation of evolution, whereas it actually pertains a whole new field of contemporary thought. The book's organizing principle is the 'Prisoner's Dilemma', whereby players are given a choice: reciprocate cooperation for a reasonable pay-off, defect at the others expense to gain a larger pay-off, or find yourself both defecting to receive a meagre pay-off. I suggest you click on my link directing you to the Wikipedia page for a better explanation. The premise works well mathematically and theoretically, because patterns can be found and models drawn on the best way of achieving the largest possible pay-off. The findings are then easily implemented into everyday scenarios, most impressive of which is the "live-and-let-live" mentality adopted by the forces fighting on the Western Front during the First World War. Both allied and enemy forces knew that killing an opponent in the opposite trench would doubtlessly induce a casualty on your side as an act of reciprocity. The inevitable stand off, at the dismay of the army officers, produced the laborious stalemate of 1917. Wondrously, Axelrod created a primitive piece of computer software to emulate the 'Prisoner's Dilemma' and then invited anyone and everyone to write an adjacent piece of programming for exactly that: produce the largest possible pay-off. Axelrod then bid entrant's submissions against each other to see who came out of top. Conclusively, a "Tit-for-Tat" model won by a long way, proving that ruthlessness nor generosity is the better policy - if your counterpart backhands you, backhand him back, and vice versa. No doubt my synopsis is shaky, but I cannot recommend this book more highly. I encourage you to explore the surrounding literature also. As Richard Dawkins states in his characteristically eloquent foreword: "The world's leader should be locked up with this book and not released until they have read it." Incidentally, Dawkins is my current port of call; after reading the excellent Climbing Mount Improbable, I find myself now reading his follow-up book on the magistry and poetry of the universe and life itself, Unweaving the Rainbow. I'll keep you informed.