It is an interesting question whether defecting on the Prisoner’s Dilemma is truly rational when one is writing code for an AI. It is not an interesting question when dealing with flesh-and-blood humans: in a true Prisoner’s Dilemma, you defect, period.
But real flesh-and-blood humans are never in a true PD situation. They are in something more like an iterated PD—it is never a one-shot. If I choose not to vote, my neighbor knows—she works as a clerk at the polling place. If I belong to a union, my shop steward will know whether I have voted, because my union has poll-watchers.
Of course; that’s right. Sometimes the fear of detection or the hope of establishing long-term cooperation will get you out of what otherwise appears to be a PD. Other times, it won’t—if you see an abandoned laptop at a scenic view pull-over on a recreational road trip, you’re pretty much dealing with a one-shot PD. If you return the laptop, it’s because you empathize with the owner or believe in karma, and not because you’re afraid that the laptop owner won’t return your laptop the next time around.
Still, it’s important not to believe that individual and collective rationality magically match up—that belief can lead to all kinds of honest but horribly tragic mistakes, like thinking that peasants will exert significant effort at farming when placed in a Trotsky-style commune.
I would upvote you thrice if I could. An overwhelming number of time-tested social dynamics, to say nothing of deliberately designed laws, can be seen to have arisen as anti-PD measures.
But real flesh-and-blood humans are never in a true PD situation. They are in something more like an iterated PD—it is never a one-shot. If I choose not to vote, my neighbor knows—she works as a clerk at the polling place. If I belong to a union, my shop steward will know whether I have voted, because my union has poll-watchers.
Of course; that’s right. Sometimes the fear of detection or the hope of establishing long-term cooperation will get you out of what otherwise appears to be a PD. Other times, it won’t—if you see an abandoned laptop at a scenic view pull-over on a recreational road trip, you’re pretty much dealing with a one-shot PD. If you return the laptop, it’s because you empathize with the owner or believe in karma, and not because you’re afraid that the laptop owner won’t return your laptop the next time around.
Still, it’s important not to believe that individual and collective rationality magically match up—that belief can lead to all kinds of honest but horribly tragic mistakes, like thinking that peasants will exert significant effort at farming when placed in a Trotsky-style commune.
I would upvote you thrice if I could. An overwhelming number of time-tested social dynamics, to say nothing of deliberately designed laws, can be seen to have arisen as anti-PD measures.