Game Theory in a Divided America
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-08/a-game-theory-solution-for-a-fractured-america
This article discusses the division in America today. It discusses partisan polarization and how game theory can help reduce this hostility on both sides. In lecture, we discussed the prisoner’s dilemma. In the prisoner’s dilemma, the best outcome would happened if and only if the prisoners cooperated. However, the situation gives an incentive to each prisoner to sell the other out. The article then says that if the prisoner’s dilemma gets played a finite number of times, the prisoners will sell each other out every time. However, if it is repeated an indefinite number of times, the prisoners will eventually start to cooperate, because they don’t know when the game will end. Similar to how prisoners will sell each other out, in America today it is easy for each side to point fingers to the other side rather than cooperating. However, if Americans realize that they will have to live with each other for an indefinite amount of time and that the other side isn’t going away, they will have a better incentive to cooperate.
The fact of the matter is that neither side is going anywhere and that the US population will remain evenly split between whites and nonwhites. It may seem that in the short term one side will prevail over the other, but in long run, neither side is going anywhere. America is a never-ending prisoner’s dilemma. If both sides choose to sell the other out, we are all worse off. Our political climate is constantly changing, but there is one thing that remains constant: we are all stuck together. Therefore, game theory tells us that the only solution is to cooperate. Game theory shows us that the best outcomes often come from cooperation. Sure cooperation is easier said than done in America, but realizing that cooperation is the best solution is a step in the right direction.