A Game-Theory Solution for a Fractured America
Recently, the Trump Administration announced that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is being rescinded. Our university president Martha Pollack released a statement, and shortly after, one of my friends talked his mind against the president’s statement, remarking how it’s unhelpful and perhaps uninformed. Shortly after, as I went on Facebook, I saw status after status from DACA students complaining about the actions or from others talking about its fairness and necessity. Other social media sites are filled with shouting wars regarding race, politics, morality, and any decision from any party. Undeniably, America is divided with animosity between opinions, and it’s hurting the nation.
This article suggests a very general, not-so-new solution to cause the harsh words and actions to abate but in a quite new light or approach. Smith talks about game theory and the prisoner’s dilemma: From a single player’s perspective, it makes sense for him to confess, as it serves as the best response, giving him less prison time no matter what decision the other prisoner makes. However, looking from a broader perspective, the sum of prison time is greatly reduced if the two prisoners cooperate and decide together to not confess.
As we know, if the prisoner’s dilemma is played only one time, the self-interested players end up betraying each other and losing out together. Played an infinite number of times, the prisoner’s dilemma continuously ends up with both losing out. Now, the article mentions something interesting here: if the game is repeated indefinitely instead of infinitely, people start to cooperate, because people can’t plan to betray each other towards the end. As people start to consider the future together, they choose to cooperate again and again. It’s easy for a prisoner to confess if the prisoner knows he’s never going to see the other again, but in an indefinite cycle of this dilemma, both staying silent makes even more sense.
This metaphor carries over into our divided nation. The article mentions how white America is here to stay as minorities’ birthrates and immigration are decreasing enough to not overwhelm and how liberalism and conservatism is divided between big cities and small towns, meaning these racial and political differences are not going away any time soon. Thus, the United States, very simply put, is an indefinitely repeated prisoner’s dilemma, where the sensible strategy is to get along. But then again, it’s easier said than done.
Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-08/a-game-theory-solution-for-a-fractured-america