green numbers give full details.     |    back to list of philosophers     |     unexpand these ideas

---

Ideas of Robert Axelrod, by Text

[American, fl. 1984, Professor at the University of Michigan.]

1984	The Evolution of Co-Operation

1	p.20	22724	Good strategies avoid conflict, respond to hostility, forgive, and are clear
			Full Idea: Successful game strategies avoid unnecessary conflict, are provoked by an uncalled for defection, forgive after a provocation, and behave clearly so the other player can adapt.
			From: Robert Axelrod (The Evolution of Co-Operation [1984], 1)
			A reaction: [compressed] Exactly what you would expect from a nice but successful school teacher. The strategies for success in these games is the same as the rules for educating a person into cooperative behaviour. TIT FOR TAT does all these.

5	p.92	22725	When players don't meet again, defection is the best strategy
			Full Idea: When players will never meet again, the strategy of defection is the only stable strategy.
			From: Robert Axelrod (The Evolution of Co-Operation [1984], 5)
			A reaction: This gives good grounds for any community's mistrust of transient strangers, such as tourists. And yet any sensible tourist will want communities to trust tourists, and will therefore behave in a reliable way.