How To Use This Undefeated Algorithm’s Success For Life

A 1980s tournament reveals the secrets of cooperation

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

When two people advance their own interests but don’t produce an optimal outcome it’s called the prisoner's dilemma.

The common decision-making paradox goes something like this:

“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, but they have enough to convict both 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.” — Albert W. Tucker

There are 4 possible outcomes associated with Tucker’s scenario:

• If A and B each betray the other, each of them serves two years in prison.
• If A betrays B but B remains silent, A will be set free and B will serve three years in prison.
• If A remains silent but B betrays A, A will serve three years in prison, and B will be set free.
• If A and B both remain silent, both of them will…