The Dark Knight, The Joker, and Game Theory
This article connects the concept of game theory with the mind of “The Joker”, specifically in the Dark Knight Trilogy. There are many scenes in The Dark Knight that reveals the true nature of The Joker which is that he always thinks with a Game Theory-esque way. For example, in the opening scene of The Dark Knight, the realistic applications of game theory can be seen. Five robbers in clown masks enter a bank and one by one they kill each other off because of the idea that if there are less people alive at the end, then more money will be split among the survivors. An Economist would say that the most rational decision would be to kill off every robber so that you can receive all the rewards which is the underlying assumption that all the robbers in the scene believed in. This is what The Joker predicted which is why he is the last robber alive and thus is the one who receives all the money at the end. The Joker was able to correctly predict their behavior because he knew the concept of The Prisoner’s Dilemma and thus knew exactly what strategy the robbers would choose.
In class we learned about Game Theory and The Prisoner’s Dilemma and these two concepts are seen in The Dark Knight. Game Theory is the study of what decision to make based on all the other possible strategies that can be made. It assumes that people are rational and make the best decision for themselves and not for others. The Prisoner’s Dilemma is one of the most popular examples to explain Game Theory. There are many different variations but the idea is the same in that there is only one viable strategy for both prisoners that they would benefit the most out of no matter what strategy the other prisoner chooses. In the previous paragraph, we talked about the opening scene of The Dark Knight which is an example of The Prisoner’s Dilemma. In that scene, the best strategy for any of the robbers is to kill the other robbers because that strategy gives the best outcome to the respective robber no matter what happens.
This article also talks about a similar thought experiment to The Prisoner’s Dilemma called The Pirate’s Game. The Pirate Game states that there are five pirates, with each one more senior than the last, who are trying to figure out how to split 100 gold coins. The most senior pirate has to appeal to the other pirates’ desire to stay alive if he wants the most amount of gold. The best outcome is for the senior pirate to walk off with 98 coins, give one gold coin each to two of the pirates, and kill off the rest. The Joker utilizes this concept well when he leverages the robbers’ greed for his own gain.
All of The Joker’s interactions with other characters are about manipulation, largely working on the assumption that they’ll give one thing up in exchange for something else which will help them or somebody close to them. The whole movie revolves around The Joker setting other characters against each other against their will, making them all participants in his game.
Link: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-joker/39273/the-dark-knight-the-joker-and-game-theory