Prisoners dilemma paper

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Prisoners Dilemma

The prisoners Dilemma is a game used for social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and cultural research and analysis for the United States armed forces created by Douglas Aircraft Company’s Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher. The prisoners’ dilemma is a game that takes two people and places them in different rooms, and without being able to talk with each other they are made to make a decision. They can rat, or cooperate with their “partner in crime.” If one-person rats and the other does not the one who rats goes free while the one who cooperated gets 10 years of prison. If both people cooperate they both get 6 months and if both people rat then they both get 6 years.

The game was designed to find out why two people may or may not cooperate. Even when it may seem like it is the best decision to help one another and cooperate, something inside the human being releases a fear that makes them act like they are in a more hostile environment. The point of the game is to find out why a person thinks the way he or she does under this type of situation. The pressure of the “unknown” can also play a big part in the decision and make someone feel things that aren’t real, as well as wanting to do what is the best scenario for him or herself. Human beings have incentives and our incentive is to protect ourselves at all costs, even if that means putting your friend (or not) in prison or in a sticky situation. I feel like it is almost instinct for people to want to get as far away from danger and fear as possible and if doing the best thing for yourself is part of that then by any means possible humans will take that path.

When we did the prisoners dilemma in history class the thought of it was more fun than actually playing it. In general I think because all of my classmates are my friends I didn’t want to steel their money and/or hypothetically put them in jail. But I learned that even between friends trust in the “unknown” is not something people do. Human beings are naturally protective of themselves and because of that nobody wanted to cooperate and those who did were quickly eliminated. As well as wanting the best for ones self, the fact that it’s a game makes people want to win because it is normal for people to want to be the best. And in this case the best way to win is to rat every time. This makes it hard on the people who are trying to be kind as well as the people who are thinking logically because if both people cooperate it’s the best for the group.

A contemporary social and political issue involving the prisoner’s dilemma is the use of steroids in sports. One of the most drug-associated sports is baseball. David Wells, aka, “Boomer” stated that, “25 to 40 percent of all major league baseball players are juiced.” And Jose Canseco said that almost 80% of baseball players have used drugs, he even wrote a book called “Juiced” that claims the vast majority of MLB players have used steroids. The problem with drugs (majorly steroids) is that when one person takes them and becomes much better at that sport because it enhances his skills and strengths, then
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