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Prisoner's Dilemma (1992) (edit title/settings)

John Von Neumann, Game Theory, and the Puzzle of the Bomb

by William Poundstone (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

John von Neumann invented the digital computer, played a key role in the development of the atom bomb, constructed a branch of mathematics known as game theory, and became a defender of a movement to bomb the Russians before they could bomb us. Now comes a biography of this controversial... read more

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First Sentence edit see section history

A man was crossing a river with his wife and mother.

Table of Contents edit see section history

1. Dilemmas
The Nuclear Dilemma
John von Neumann
Prisoner's Dilemma

2. John Von Neumann
The Child prodigy
Kun's Hungary
Early Career
The Institute
Klara
Personality
The Sturm und Drang Period
The Best Brain in the World

3. Game Theory
Kriegspiel
Who Was First?
Theory of Games and Economic Behavior
Cake Division
Rational Players
Games as Trees
Games as Tables
Zero-Sum Games
Minimax and Cake
Mixed Strategies
Curve Balls and Deadly Genes
The Minimax Theorem
N-Person Games

4. The Bomb
Von Neumann at Los Alamos
Game Theory in Wartime
Bertrand Russell
World Government
Operation Crossroads
The Computer
Preventive War

5. The Rand Corporation
History
Thinking About the Unthinkable
Surfing, Semantics, Finnish Phonology
Von Neumann at RAND
John Nash
The Monday-Morning Quarterback

6. Prisoner's Dilemma
The Buick Sale
Honor Among Thieves
The Flood-Dresher Experiment
Tucker's Anecdote
Common Sense
Prisoner's Dilemmas in Literature
Free Rider
Nuclear Rivalry

7. 1950
The Soviet Bomb
The Man from Mars
Urey's Speech
The Fuchs Affair
The Korean War
The Nature of Technical Surprise
Aggressors for Peace
Francis Matthews
Aftermath
Public Reaction
Was It a Trial Balloon?
The MacArthur Speech
Orvil Anderson
Press Reaction
How Many Bombs?
Coda

8. Game Theory and Its Discontents
Criticism of Game Theory
Utility and Machiavelli
Are people Rational?
the Ohio State Studies

9. Von Neumann's Last Years
The H-Bomb
A Very Fine Tiger
The Commissioner
The Moment of Hope
Illness
Death

10. Chicken and the Cuban Missile Crisis
Chicken
Volunteer's Dilemma
Volunteer's Dilemma Experiments
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Madman Theory

11. More On Social Dilemmas
Deadlock
Stag Hunt
Asymmetric Games
Justifying Cooperation
Howard's Meta-Game
Backward Induction Paradox

12. Survival of the Fittest
Stable Strategies
Is Defection in the Genes?
Robert Axelrod
TIT FOR TAT
The Trouble with TIT FOR TAT
The Fish in the Mirror
Cooperation and Civilization
TIT FOR TAT in the Real World

13. The Dollar Auction
Escalation
Shubik's Dollar in Real Life
Strategies
Rational Bidding
Where Game Theory Fails
The Largest-Number Game
Feather in a Vacuum

Bibliography
Index

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. William Poundstone (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Alfred Jensen (Cover Artist) - Painting photographed on cover.

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Doubleday
Country: USA
Publication Date: January 18, 1992
ISBN: 0385415672
Page Count: 290

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: QA29.V66P68
  • Dewey: 510.092

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
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