Deadly Dilemmas

A Book Review to Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life

Written by Len Fisher

     This book entitled with Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life and was written by written by Len Fisher, introduces the different applications and examples of game theory in our daily lives. Game theory is a theory of social situations often correlated with parlor games and the likes, but this focuses on how a group of people interact and cooperate.

This book had shown how the modern science of game theory has helped to understanding of the evolution of cooperation in nature, and probes how to apply those lessons to our own society. In a series of conducted experiments, that takes him from the polite confines of an English dinner party to crowded supermarkets, congested Indian roads, and the wilds of outback Australia, not to mention baseball strategies and the intricacies of quantum mechanics. It gave a solid connection of game theory to our everyday situations and suggests several strategies for achieving cooperation.

At the beginning of the book, it described the Prisoner’s dilemma and provided the negative connotation that the Nash equilibrium is a logical trap. It then introduced the concepts of minimax and fair division. Fisher illuminates fair division with anecdotes and gave applications to the principle of minimax. The seven deadly dilemmas that Fisher mentioned were the seven of the most interesting game theory problems, in which he have given a summary to the game of chicken. Also it tackled the rock, paper, scissor game. It amused me of how this simple game we use to play when we were young can resolve conflicts. The reason of using this game according to Fisher is that the game has no pure strategy that dominates the others.

            This fun game theory guide reveals the pervasiveness of game theory in everyday life, in an entertaining, enlightening and practical guide to the abstruse discipline of game theory. Fisher engages intensely in mathematical subject without heavy reliance on equations or jargons. His treatment of the subject makes game theory appears only slightly more complicated rather than childish play. It then explains that it further illustrates the role of game theory in our daily life.

            This book reveals that through this fun game theory guide, though there are problems of cooperation to everyone, it has endowed lessons that will both teaches and give delight to everyone interested in solutions and strategies to take enable to get people to work together in unity.