Fisher, L. (2008). Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life. Basic Books.
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
Fisher discusses how we encounter game theory in our everyday lives, citing different real world examples, as well as anecdotes from his own life. He begins by explaining the situation we are in now, showing how were are constantly encountering game theory in out lives, primarily focusing on the prisoner’s dilemma. Fisher then breaks down the seven most common dilemmas, and explains how their equilibriums are found.
Since those games all have only two actions in them, Fisher then shows what can occur when we add in a third choice to the situation. Simply by allowing individuals to opt out of scenarios, this increases the cooperation that the remaining individuals in the group show. A part of this may be due to those willing to defect not wanting to be there in the first place, so by being able to leave, they can exit the situation in a non destructive way.
The last, and most important portion of the book looks at how we cooperate, and develop trust. The biggest piece of this strategy revolves around our ability to communicate with each other, and share what our intent is. He cites Roger McCain, and emphasizes the statement “if people can arrive at a cooperative solution, any non constant sum game can, in principle, be converted to a win-win game.” This line was really powerful for me, because it shows that by cooperating with each other, we can build a much better world than we would be able to build by ourselves, and everyone involved is better off than they were before.
To show how to achieve this, Fisher then delves into how we develop trust, citing the dominant strategy in repeated prisoner’s dilemma. Always start by cooperating, and then do what your opponent did the last round. By following this very simple strategy, we can encourage more cooperation in the world around us and build up the trust that we have in each other.
Because it bears repeating, the biggest take away I have from this book was the quote by McCain. By working together, we can build a better world to live in where everyone is better off than if everyone acted selfishly.
Spencer Hight 