Situations That Triggered the Birth of Game Theory
During the rise of the Nazis into power, cowardice and indifference among the German intellectuals made them not to speak against it. This led to the persecution of groups that were targeted. They felt it was not their responsibility; hence, they expected someone else to come and raise the voice against those evils on their behalf. They were wrong. Fascism grew, and its effects were felt by all.
The second issue was on greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, global warming, and problems associated with them. It became too difficult to reach an international consensus about the same. While it was evident through scientific research that concerted effort is what was needed at that hour, political wrangles at state-level were prioritized hence overriding the need of making this long term assurance. Every nation in the world desires that the challenge of greenhouse gases and global warming be tacked, but no country is ready to take responsibility first.
The study of this dilemma between selfishness and altruism (and a keener consideration of what seems rational and obvious based on an individual is highly irrational when other social factors are considered) and many others led to the domain of Game Theory. This is a field that rose to prominence in 1928 after the publishing of the paper “On The Theory of Games of Strategy” by John von Neumann.
An excellent example to illustrate this is the prisoners’ dilemma. Two prisoners put in different cells and are meant to make a rational decision based on the other’s point of view as that determines what happens to them leads to an endless loop of thoughts since none knows what the other is thinking of. The game theory thus explains that rationalism is relative, and the required result must consider other factors.
References
seangametheory 