Prisoner’s Dilemma

Published on March 16, 2025, filed under Philosophy and Everything Else (RSS feed for all categories).

Are you one of the currently 15 million people who have watched What Game Theory Reveals About Life, the Universe, and Everything (indeed, that’s the title), a video about tackling the Prisoner’s Dilemma? If not, I think you’d enjoy it!

That could be this post, and you might as well go watch the video, and have a fantastic day.

If you want to stay for a few more personal paragraphs (which are easier to read if you know the video):

Appreciating programming as well as philosophy, the video has definitely resonated with me.

I enjoy this testing of various strategies to determine which one would be most effective. (Realistically, this may be more accessible and effective than a philosophical treatise about the dilemma and how to approach it.)

I find it deeply satisfying to see “tit for tat” (“with about 10% more forgiveness”) outperform all other strategies. Not a “nasty” strategy—no, a strategy that is cooperative, and yet responds to anything not mutually beneficial. (I think you enjoy this, too!)

What’s interesting to me, personally, is that the recommendations derived—“be nice, be forgiving, be retaliatory, be clear” (or: “be nice, be forgiving, but don’t be a pushover”)—resemble the position I’ve been landing on in my life. These seem like reasonable choices.

But the insight also adds to the frustrations one can have—that I do have—about our current world: Here’s another thing we know better (be nice, cooperate), but that a good number of people choose to go against (try to ostracize or take advantage of others).

Whether you left for the video (sure, you won’t see this) or read on for these notes (thanks!), I hope that “be nice, be forgiving, but don’t be a pushover” becomes a more popular strategy not only in simulations.

And that’s that! Happy Sunday.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager for small and large enterprises, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)