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Material Detail

The Prisoner's Dilemma

The Prisoner's Dilemma

Provides an interactive version of the Prisoner's Dilemma, which was developed in game theory and which illustrates the role and importance of trust and cooperation in social structures. Also includes a good exposition ("Dilemma in Detail") of the ideas behind prisoner's dilemma, development of the game, links to political philosophy, and some of its practical applications (economic exchanges, public goods, nuclear disarmament).... Show More
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More about this material

Material Type:
Simulation
Date Added to MERLOT:
March 19, 2004
Date Modified in MERLOT:
October 12, 2022
Author:
Submitter:
Stephen Martin
Primary Audience:
College General Ed
Technical Format:
Shockwave
Mobile Compatibility:
Not specified at this time
Language:
English
Cost Involved:
No
Source Code Available:
No
Accessibility Information Available:
No
Creative Commons:
No

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Comments

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Maha Bali
Maha Bali (Staff)
14 years ago
Warning: this is kind of addictive... it's a game, after all. It's helpful that there is also text around it to give theoretical perspective on the philosophical problem. Can it also be used in teaching probability? Can the game be enahnced by adding a score for "correctly guessing" your opponent's strategy (if random is chosen)? Can it be done as a 2-player game (obviously this can be done face to face, too!)

Technical Remarks:

Requires Shockwave
Time spent reviewing site: About 15 minutes
Philip Pecorino
Philip Pecorino (Faculty)
14 years ago
As fine a presentation of The Prisoner's Dilemma as you are likely to find in a two dimensional format. The key here is to get students to read the text that accompanies the simulation. The text is a first rate presentation as well.
Matt Angrisani
Matt Angrisani (Student)
17 years ago
I really enjoyed using this website. I spent about half an hour on the site
playing with the interactive game as well as reading some of the text explaining
the whole concept of the Prisoner's Dilema. This website introduced me to a
concept in Philosophy that I had not been exposed to yet-- Game Theory. I found
the concept fascinating and it would have been extremely difficult to
understand without the aid of the interactive game or the easy-to-read
explaination. I would almost certainly use this in the classroom in a course
which covered this material. The website as a whole is very user-friendly. The
page is well laid out and pertinent to the field.