http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23529849Evolution does not favour selfish people, according to new research.
This challenges a previous theory which suggested it was preferable to put yourself first.
Instead, it pays to be co-operative, shown in a model of "the prisoner's dilemma", a scenario of game theory - the study of strategic decision-making.
Published in Nature Communications, the team says their work shows that exhibiting only selfish traits would have made us go extinct.
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Pretty interesting study. I've always called bullshit on that "prisoner's dilemma" approach:
Bullshit. If both prisoners keep their fucking mouths shut, they both walk free.A team from Michigan State University used a model of the prisoner's dilemma game, where two suspects who are interrogated in separate prison cells must decide whether or not to inform on each other.
In the model, each person is offered a deal for freedom if they inform on the other, putting their opponent in jail for six months. However, this scenario will only be played out if the opponent chooses not to inform.
If both "prisoners" choose to inform (defection) they will both get three months in prison, but if they both stay silent (co-operation) they will both only get a jail term of one month.
The eminent mathematician John Nash showed that the optimum strategy was not to co-operate in the prisoner's dilemma game.
But if even one person rats on the other, not only does the person being ratted on get screwed, but often times so does the informant!
It doesn't pay to try to "save one's own skin" by defecting, it just gets you both in worse trouble.
"Loose lips sink ships."
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