28 September 2011 from 12:30 to 17:30
From a strictly Darwinian point of view cooperation in nature is a puzzling concept and has intrigued philosophers, economists, psychologists, sociologists, biologists and ecologists: why should certain individuals increase the fitness of others at a cost to themselves? Aspects of conflict and cooperation are formalized by game theory in a decision-making type of framework where players make choices that affect the interests of the other players. One of the most studied problems in game theory is the Prisoner's Dilemma that explains why two individuals might not cooperate even if it is in both their best interests to do so.
This symposium will cover different theoretical and experimental topics of cooperation studies: from evolutionary game theory, which models interactions from an individual point of view, to the ecological, resource-based theories and experiments, which include environmental features such as the existence of limiting resources. The symposium will also touch the subject of social opinion formation and the propagation of ideas.
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"To cooperate or not to cooperate?", the classic Prisoner’s Dilemma problem in game theory.