AN INTERESTING QUESTION....

[HariSeldon]

32. Consider game theory - the Prisoners' Dilemma

According to the Veratasium video on game theory and the Prisoners' Dilemma (in the formulation used by Dr. Axelrod), there has been abundant research on what strategies serve best over a long series (of not-entirely-determinative length) of interactions where the participants can cooperate or defect. In general, the strategies that performed best could be described as: nice (i.e. not defecting first), forgiving (only looking at its opponent's immediately preceding decision), retaliatory/provokable (defecting in the round immediately after its opponent defects), clear (using a simple and easily observed strategy), and generous (occasionally cooperating even when it would otherwise defect).

Some denominations of Christianity have been characterized as being maximally forgiving, based on the teachings of Jesus as related in the Bible. Applying this strategy in the Prisoners' Dilemma works well if the opponent is "nice" but fails badly when the opponent is nasty -- and the nastier the opponent, the worse the inevitable failure.

I believe some groups of Democrats may have the same misconception that consistently choosing cooperation -- even in the face of defection -- is a winning strategy. The math says not, and this is the one thing I would fault President Biden for: not clearly and strongly retaliating for the defection of the Republican Party against the (little-D) democratic nature of our chosen form of government. I truly believe this is a core reason why the Democrats lost House seats in 2022 and for the perception of President Biden as "weak."

And Republicans seem to have learned the lesson that Democrats are overly forgiving and resist provocation: they can defect with impunity because Democrats will always try to make things work. I suppose the lie was put to "always" when Democrats refused to help McCarthy keep the Speaker's gavel, but that singular case does not lay out a clear strategy where Republican voters see that they are losing out through their elected legislators' refusal to cooperate in effective legislation.

And I think this also spills over into Christianity, especially evangelicalism: those who believe that "spreading the Good News" (usually measured in attendance at services or weekly collections) is more important than Jesus' teachings of maximal cooperation will be inclined to defect in furtherance of their immediate goals.