Despite great press for Dyson, the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma is still not the solution to human cooperation

The Chronicle of Higher Education “To the Trickster Go the Spoils”

I really appreciate that Freeman Dyson acknowledges so clearly in this article that the fact that he has found a deceitful solution to the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma does not warrant radically shifting our understanding of human cooperation. The IPD and other game theory constructs have always been playthings, ridiculously over-simplified models that allow us to begin to get traction on the dynamics of cooperation. To suggest otherwise is foolish whether that suggestion comes from scientists or the popular media.