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arXiv:1208.2666q-bio.PE

Evolutionary instability of Zero Determinant strategies demonstrates that winning isn't everything

Christoph Adami, Arend Hintze

Abstract

Zero Determinant (ZD) strategies are a new class of probabilistic and conditional strategies that are able to unilaterally set the expected payoff of an opponent in iterated plays of the Prisoner's Dilemma irrespective of the opponent's strategy, or else to set the ratio between a ZD player's and their opponent's expected payoff. Here we show that while ZD strategies are weakly dominant, they are not evolutionarily stable and will instead evolve into less coercive strategies. We show that ZD strategies with an informational advantage over other players that allows them to recognize other ZD strategies can be evolutionarily stable (and able to exploit other players). However, such an advantage is bound to be short-lived as opposing strategies evolve to counteract the recognition.

arXiv comments
14 pages, 4 figures. Change in title (again!) to comply with Nature Communications requirements. To appear in Nature Communications
Journal reference
Nature Communications 4 (2013) 2193
DOI
doi:10.1038/ncomms3193
Subjects
q-bio.PEPopulations and Evolution nlin.AOAdaptation and Self-Organizing Systems q-bio.NCNeurons and Cognition

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Linked by 3 identifiable commenters in 3 comments across 2 threads, from Aug 2012 to Aug 2013. Found in 1 HN submission from Feb 2016 to Feb 2016. Open submission discussions.

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Discussed in comments2 threads

  1. Why cooperators always win in the long run 1 comment

    • The recent Adami/Hintze paper that is topic of this article is itself the paper that shows that the ZD strategy is not evolutionarily stable. The May 2012 Press/Dyson paper was what caused people to question what had been thought settled for 30 years, and Adami/Hintze paper…

      hsitzView on HNParent context

  2. The Emerging Revolution in Game Theory 2 comments

    • This is roughly the 5th article on a "Revolution in Game Theory" that I've seen and not a single one of them has successfully described what the so called revolutionary strategy is. Here is a direct link to a PDF of a paper defining the Zero Determinant Strategy.…

      forrestthewoodsView on HNParent context

    • It's inspiring to note that Bill Press is 64 years old, and Freeman Dyson is 88! Here's a more technical explanation, gleaned from http://arxiv.org/abs/1208.2666. Each prisoner dilemma round has four possible outcomes: CC, CD, DC and DD (C=Cooperate,D=Defect). We study…

      cedView on HNParent context

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