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The Evolution of Cooperation 5th or later Edition

by Robert Axelrod (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 371 ratings
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This widely praised and much-discussed book explores how cooperation can emerge in a world of self-seeking egoists—whether superpowers, businesses, or individuals—when there is no central authority to police their actions.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0465021212
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0465021215
  3. Edition
    5th or later Edition
  4. Publisher
    Basic Books
  5. Publication date
    October 1, 1985
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.5 x 8 inches
  8. Print length
    241 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Axelrod is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. A MacArthur Prize Fellow, he is a leading expert on game theory, artificial intelligence, evolutionary biology, mathematical modeling, and complexity theory. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 5th or later Edition (October 1, 1985)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 241 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465021212
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465021215
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1300L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 371 ratings

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4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
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371 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Daniel O. Cajueiro
5.0 out of 5 stars How to play the iterated prisoner dilemma
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2011
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This is a master piece about how to play the iterated prisoner dilemma and the evolution of cooperation. The amazing thing is that it was written 20 years ago and it is not out of date. Otherwise, it is an amazing presentation of the topic, mainly because of its simplicity and clearness!

Chapter 1 presents the main point of the book: "How cooperation emerges in a world of egoists without central authority". This chapter also introduces the main representation of the problem (based on the prisoners dilemma), several examples of cooperation, the main arguments for cooperation (such as the fact that the prisoner dilemma is not a zero sum game, altruism, the size of the discount factor etc) and the first proposition "if the discount factor is high, there is no best strategy".

Chapter 2 describes the computer tournament where Tit for Tat is the winner (in almost all situations). I mean the author promoted a tournament for the study of the strategies that can be used to play the iterated prisoner dilemma. Besides the main conclusions of this chapter, it is also interesting because of its historical appealing. Maybe this is one of the first important applications of computer science in Economics.

Chapter 3 is one of the most lucid introductions to evolutionary game theory. Although today we may find very good books about this topic (such as Game theory evolving - Gints, Evolutionary game theory - Weibull, Evolutionary Games and Population Dynamics - Hofbauer and Sigmund), the main ideas are presented in just few pages with almost no math (this is good for some guys). Furthermore, the author uses evolutionary game theory to analyze the stability of Tit for tat, other nice strategies and the strategy the defects in all rounds.

Chapter 4 the book presents the classical example of cooperation that arose in World war I.

Chapter 5 (previously published in American political science review) deals with the evolution of cooperation in biological systems applying the main ideas discussed in previous chapters.

Chapter 6 is about how to deal with prisoners dilemmas (in real life?!). The author provides a list of advices and justifies why Tit for Tat works. For instance, it is a "nice" strategy. I mean "Be nice". But if one is not nice with you, do not be nice either.

Chapter 7 is about how to promote cooperation. What factors in the game are necessary in order to promote cooperation. For instance, the continuous interaction between the participants is fundamental.

Chapter 8 discusses how cooperation is affected by some important issues such as the fact that people are divided in groups of similar characteristics (such as race, age etc), reputation etc.

Chapter 9 is like a summary of some ideas of the book.
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Steve Reina
5.0 out of 5 stars Why do we do unto others as we would have them do unto us?
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2009
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It's perhaps one of the most fasicinating quirks of psychological research that one of the most ground breaking findings in human psychology was achieved by means of a computer tournament.

That tournament was sponsored by Robert Axelrod of the University of Michigan who developed a computer environment that would different game programs against each other to determine which survival strategy was best adapted to survival.

For those believers of life, nasty, brutish and short, the findings were nothing short of astonishing: specifically that when actors were invovled in situations where they would be repeatedly interacting with each other, survival was best enhanced by cooperation.

Otherwise known as "the golden rule" of doing unto others as you would have done unto you, a computer program known as Tit for Tat outperformed all other competitors by first seeking cooperation and then narrowly mirroring the actions of its counterparts.

In other words, if Tit for Tat met a competitor it would first seek cooperation. If the competitor cooperated, Tit for Tat would thereafter cooperate. If the competitor defected, Tit for Tat would itself immediately defect but thereafter again seek cooperation by cooperating whenever the competitor thereafter chose to cooperate.

Since the publication of the original article detailing Axelrod's findings twenty five years ago, the study of cooperation or reciprocal ultruism has found applications not only in human behavior but also in genetics and evolution itself.

Inside every cell of your body are anywhere ranging to around 1000 mitochondria. If the test for different life forms are organisms which have their own DNA, mitochondria qualify. Yet, they have always been a part of human biology. And they have been there own life domain for the better part of two billion (or more) years.

Mitochondria's ability to productively work with their host cells is an example of both genetic and biological reciprocal ultruism.

Like any ground breaking work, like Newton's Principia or Darwin's Origin of Species, I was attracted to this work so I could better witness the original flash of genius. And like with Newton's Principia and Darwin's Origin of Species I was not disappointed but found many instances in which the original researchers had advanced speculations that frankly would remain fertile areas for further research. In the case of this book, I would include Axelrod's discussion of how to better take advantage of the benefits of reciprocal ultruism and also how systems can be more reciprocal ultruism friendly.

Interestingly, the places where reciprocal ultruism has tragically broken down are places that would easily be predicted by the over arching theory.

For students of genetics, biology and even behavior I can't recommend this book highly enough. In fact, in addition to this book I would also recommed the following:

Origins of Virtue by Matt Ridley which discusses the genetic aspects of reciprocal ultruism;

Prisoner's Dilemma by William Poundstone which discusses game theory as a branch of theoretical mathematics;

Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins which is just fun; and

Oneness by Jeffrey Moses which provides verbatim quotes of the golden rule and other doxology by means of direct quotes from the world's leading religions. There's nothing like seeing material which so exactly corresponds to theoretical predictions to give you a sense of the explanatory power of the theory(ies) involved.
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Gabriel Hernandez
5.0 out of 5 stars Cooperate like your life depends on it, because the payoff is better.
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2023
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The book gives numerous examples of The Prisoner's Dilemma and how cooperation is always the best policy. You only defect after the other party does, never first. Defection can mean any number of things but always depends on the context of the situation.

Through lots of error to go with my trials I learned over the years that cooperation is the best policy. With bad bosses, obstinate coworkers, rebellious kids and angry spouses. The payoffs: material, psychological, emotional, are far higher when you cooperate and can induce others to cooperate. This book, esoteric at times, explains the mathematical theory behind the why.

If you have difficulty making decisions involving a counter party, or are just interested in the dynamics at play in working or competing with others, I highly recommend this book.
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Neil Barnes
5.0 out of 5 stars Quality
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 24, 2022
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Makes a lot of sense out of a lot of things.

Very encouraging to see how cooperation can form without trust. Even between selfish/egoistic players.
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Michael Schilling
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most important books ever written
Reviewed in Germany on January 20, 2022
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Bought this a couple of times already, as it always makes for a great present for friends within academia.
The evolution of cooperation offers insight both into why we cooperate and when we don't, it's implications are therefor far reaching, as it lies at the heart of evolutionary stable strategies within politics.
I hope one day this will be common knowledge, forever upending religious arguments about morality, and replacing them with a predictive view of morality, allowing us to change the dynamics of the systems we find ourselves in.
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Cliente de Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Necesario para entender las relaciones humanas.
Reviewed in Mexico on July 15, 2020
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Un fantástico libro, que de manera amena trata sobre el dilema del prisionero. En verdad da un brillo a las relaciones humanas y la comprensión de las mismas. Todo aquel que quiera entender cómo funcionan las relacione humanas debería darse un clavado
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Daniel Teixeira
5.0 out of 5 stars Ótimo!
Reviewed in Brazil on June 23, 2017
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Fala sobre a história dos torneios de estratégias para o problema do dilema do prisioneiro e como a cooperação emerge mesmo com objetivos egoístas.
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Riccardo
5.0 out of 5 stars Libro che non si può non leggere
Reviewed in Italy on August 25, 2019
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Libro indispensabile e dalle applicazioni infinite: anche la cooperazione ha le sue regole.
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