It is dusk on a remote stretch of highway in the California desert. As the heat rises and the shadows lengthen, two muscle cars face each other, their engines roaring. At a signal, the drivers, blond, tanned young men wearing dark sunglasses and brave grins, explode their cars from their starting points and race head-long toward each other. Dust rises; the scattered spectators hold their breath. Perhaps good sense will prevail and both drivers will swerve before impact; perhaps one will swerve and suffer the humiliation of defeat; perhaps both will die.
This is, of course, chicken, one of many scenarios used to illustrate and predict human behaviour in the science of game theory, a field pioneered by mathematical giants such as John von Neumann and John Nash (of the book and movie A Beautiful Mind). Game theorists specify a scenario or “game” and attach a payoff for each player to each of the possible outcomes. If the players act rationally, each will...
David Dunne is an Irish Canadian author whose titles include Design Thinking at Work. He is currently writing a book about the Irish border region.
Advertisement
Advertisement