Game Theory Solution for a Fractured America
Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-08/a-game-theory-solution-for-a-fractured-america
This article emphasizes how America has become a fractured country, split between politics, race and ideologies. This divide has only hurt the country. No progress has been made on reform for health care and tax bills, and at a fundamental level, there is a lack of trust between Americans on opposing sides. Both sides will need to communicate and compromise with one another in order to heal this fracture.
The article explains the most infamous game theory example – the prisoner’s dilemma. The example shows how in a definite number of trials, each prisoner will act in their own best interest, and then both of them will be hurt. Ideally, if both prisoners cooperated with one another, the best overall outcome can be achieved. However, in a definite number of trials that outcome does not happen. However, in a scenario with indefinite number of trials, each prisoner realizes they are not going anywhere, and they finally realize they must cooperate with each other, otherwise they will indefinitely be hurting themselves. This game theory concept can be applied to America today. Several statistics in the article show how neither white nor non-whites are going anywhere in America. In all cases of racial divide, either party must realize they will not be able to dominate and win over the divide. In the case of white supremacists, a current issue in America, they believe they can drive out all nonwhites and make America purely white. That is a completely unfeasible situation, and in any scenario in which the best overall outcome can occur between races, then all races must communicate to one another. This is a current event example about how game theory ideas can be applied to many aspects of our daily lives and help us realize how communicating and cooperating will lead to everyone’s best interest.