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Cooperation without cognition
How does cooperation evolve? It is in an organism’s best interest to screw its competitors in order to best convey its genes to the next generation, yet we see a variety of human and animals examples...
View ArticleGoethe was a Game Theorist
A favorite professor of mine once told me that it’s always impressive to start with an example from the 18th century. So in deference to him and with a nod to Jonah Lehrer’s forthcoming book, I’d like...
View ArticlePaul Rubin on the Evolution of Conflict
Paul Rubin has an editorial in the Washington Post about how evolution may result in a proclivity towards economic and social conflict: Conflict was common in the environment in which humans evolved....
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“Generalized reciprocity” present in rats
Rats show a type of “generalized” altruism: Rats that benefit from the charity of others are more likely to help strangers get a free meal, researchers have found. This phenomenon, known as...
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Men with high testosterone more likely to reject gifts in ultimatum game...
One of the ways that scientists study human decision making is through the study of behavior in simple games — loosely lumped into a field called game theory. Some of the most interesting and revealing...
View ArticleGame Theory and the Super Delegates
Jay Cost at RCP uses a prisoner’s dilemma game to show why the absense of institutional structures is likely to yield a socially inefficient result in the Democratic primaries. He looks at the super...
View ArticleGame Theory and The Dark Knight
I suspect that many of you got a chance to see The Dark Knight movie this weekend. Just as an aside, I will say that I thought that the movie was sweet. Definitely the best Batman movie, maybe one of...
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