As a toy model, imagine that people are playing iterated Prisoners’ Dilemma game, and imagine that for whatever reason, people typically defect. Not always, but most of the time. You think that this is stupid, and that repeated cooperation would be better. But of course repeated cooperation requires the other person to cooperate too, and the other person’s expectation is that you will most likely defect (because that’s what an average person does). How will you convince them otherwise?
It is not enough to say right before the turn “hey, I am going to cooperate, and I hope that you will too, because this would establish a mutually beneficial long-term cooperation”. Sure, it sounds convincing, but everyone is trying to say some convincing shit right before the turn, to convince the other person to cooperate; and them most of these people are going to defect. So most people will not be convinced.
You have to make a public statement in advance: “I am going to cooperate with everyone who has never defected against me. I am saying this publicly, so that you can keep records on my behavior, and verify with each other that I never broke my rule.”
And if you succeeded to catch people’s attention, and if they keep watching your behavior… and if after a while everyone sees that you really do follow your rule… now people have a selfish incentive to cooperate with you.
This “I am the kind of person who never defects first” is a simple form of identity. It is something you do in general (i.e. it is not an ad-hoc argument made up for a specific situation), and that is what makes it credible. Some people will argue that keeping your options open is always better for you, but as long as others see you as a person who keeps all options open, this is not going to work.
Identity is a way to signal your commitments.
As a toy model, imagine that people are playing iterated Prisoners’ Dilemma game, and imagine that for whatever reason, people typically defect. Not always, but most of the time. You think that this is stupid, and that repeated cooperation would be better. But of course repeated cooperation requires the other person to cooperate too, and the other person’s expectation is that you will most likely defect (because that’s what an average person does). How will you convince them otherwise?
It is not enough to say right before the turn “hey, I am going to cooperate, and I hope that you will too, because this would establish a mutually beneficial long-term cooperation”. Sure, it sounds convincing, but everyone is trying to say some convincing shit right before the turn, to convince the other person to cooperate; and them most of these people are going to defect. So most people will not be convinced.
You have to make a public statement in advance: “I am going to cooperate with everyone who has never defected against me. I am saying this publicly, so that you can keep records on my behavior, and verify with each other that I never broke my rule.”
And if you succeeded to catch people’s attention, and if they keep watching your behavior… and if after a while everyone sees that you really do follow your rule… now people have a selfish incentive to cooperate with you.
This “I am the kind of person who never defects first” is a simple form of identity. It is something you do in general (i.e. it is not an ad-hoc argument made up for a specific situation), and that is what makes it credible. Some people will argue that keeping your options open is always better for you, but as long as others see you as a person who keeps all options open, this is not going to work.