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Product Description
Product Description
How can co-operation emerge in a world of self-seeking egoists - whether superpowers, businesses, or individuals - when there is no central authority to police their actions? The author explores this central question, and its implications in this age of nuclear weapons and arms talks.
About the Author
Robert Axelrod is the Walgreen Professor for the Study of Human Understanding at the University of Michigan. He has been consulted on cooperation by the United Nations, the World Bank, and the U.S. Department of Defense. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS will cooperation emerge in a world of egoists without central authority? This question has intrigued people for a long time. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS will cooperation emerge in a world of egoists without central authority? This question has intrigued people for a long time. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
An "ah ha" type read. A game-theoretical analysis of how co-operation can defeat selfishness.
23 July 2008
Format:Paperback
I have to admit this is not a riveting read. It is largely a factual description of experiments Axelrod carried out over a number of years, with a variety of experts competing to find the most successful tactics in games of iterated prisoner's dilemma.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma
However the outcome of the research is truly eye-opening and fascinating. Unlike a single round game of prisoner's dilemma (where co-operation is, to say the least, dangerous), the most successful tactics were to co-operate rather than act selfishly, unless that co-operative behaviour was abused by the other player (in which case neither player would do very well). Axelrod also shows how co-operation can spread through a network squeezing out selfish behaviour.
You know the book has to be worth a read when Richard Dawkin's, author of the Selfish Gene, writes in the introduction:
"THIS IS A book of optimism. But it is believable, realistic optimism... As Darwinians we start pessimistically by assuming deep selfishness, pitiless indifference to suffering, ruthless heed to individual success. And yet from such warped beginnings, something that is in effect, if not necessarily in intention, close to amicable brotherhood and sisterhood can come. This is the uplifting message of Robert Axelrod's remarkable book."
There we are, a book to save Dawkins from himself - has to be good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma
However the outcome of the research is truly eye-opening and fascinating. Unlike a single round game of prisoner's dilemma (where co-operation is, to say the least, dangerous), the most successful tactics were to co-operate rather than act selfishly, unless that co-operative behaviour was abused by the other player (in which case neither player would do very well). Axelrod also shows how co-operation can spread through a network squeezing out selfish behaviour.
You know the book has to be worth a read when Richard Dawkin's, author of the Selfish Gene, writes in the introduction:
"THIS IS A book of optimism. But it is believable, realistic optimism... As Darwinians we start pessimistically by assuming deep selfishness, pitiless indifference to suffering, ruthless heed to individual success. And yet from such warped beginnings, something that is in effect, if not necessarily in intention, close to amicable brotherhood and sisterhood can come. This is the uplifting message of Robert Axelrod's remarkable book."
There we are, a book to save Dawkins from himself - has to be good.
27 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sometimes, the individual benefit seems to conflict with the benefit of the community as a whole, even though the community includes this very individuum. One such example has been formulated as the Prisonner's Dilemma: two suspects, A and B, are arrested, and kept separated so that they cannot communicate. If they continue to cooperate, they will be both sentenced to one year. However, if suspect A cooperates, but suspect B defects, A is going to be sentenced to five years, and suspect B will be released. Vice versa, if B cooperates and A defects, A will be released and B sentenced to five years. Finally, if both defect, they will both be sentenced to three years each.
It is clear that the best solution for both of them is cooperation. On the other hand, each individual is also tempted to maximize his own individual benefit. And each of them benefits most if he decides to defect, which in turn brings the worst possible outcome for both (six years total). So one-shot Prisonner's Dilemma rarely leads to cooperation. Now, what if the very two chaps are later arrested again? Will they cooperate when given another chance? And if they know they will face the same situation every five years? Professor Axelrod tested the iterated Prisonner's Dilemma with computer programs, and investigated under which circumstances cooperation can emerge.
The book is nicely scattered with fragments of game theory and examples from world politics. All in all, as Richard Dawkins has commented in the foreword to the Penguin edition of this book, in breathes with optimism, and is a delight to read. Still, it has one problem, and actually shares it with Dawkins: the book reaches its climax right at the beginning. The book starts with a strong and very convincing idea, but later fails to keep the same pace of dynamic. The idea is splendid, but the structure of the book could be improved.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As Richard Dawkins puts it, this really feels like one of the most important books of modern times, and a text that should be essential reading from school age up. Drawing on the findings from the most simple of game scenarios -- the Prisoner's Dilemma -- it maps out some crucial lessons for how individuals, and societies, can enhance their wellbeing: forgive easily, communicate clearly, don't be the first to let someone down, stay in contact and retaliate/be assertive if you have to be. More than that, it shows how cooperative strategies actually have greater longevity and stability than more competitive ones, and in that respect heralds the possibility of a fairer, more enduring society. The maths may be a bit tricky for some readers, and some bits are a touch repetitive, but it really is worth sticking with (and applying!).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A good read
This is a really interesting book. It is a classic, which has been referred to in many other books, but is worth reading for its own sake. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Roger Dennis
Selfish Cooperation
This book features the results of a famous computer tournament that Axelrod ran. Various strategies for The Prisoners' Dilemma game were entered and played in a round-robin format. Read more
Published 15 months ago by P Newall
Must read for anyone's life education
I'm astounded people can go through their lives without insight into why human beings do the things they do. Read more
Published 15 months ago by jackflap
Best book ever
The cover has a quote by the Wall Street Journal saying: "our ideas of cooperation will never be the same" and I couldn't agree more. Brilliant stuff. Read it.
Published 23 months ago by Vin
Seminal Work in Game Theory
Axelrod describes how cooperation can arise even between adversaries (the example he gives is the "live and let live" strategies adopted by soldiers in the trenches on the Western... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by Andrew Dalby
A groundbreaking study on effective cooperation
Every so often a book comes along that is so groundbreaking it changes the popular worldview. This book, written in 1984 by Robert Axelrod, is just such a seminal work, an original... Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2009 by Rolf Dobelli
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