Evolutionary Game Theory - The Problem

The Problem

"An ounce of algebra is worth a ton of verbal argument" J.B.S. Haldane (as quoted by John Maynard Smith)

The need for evolutionary game theory in biology started with a problem. The problem was how to explain ritualized animal behaviour in a conflict situation; "why are animals so "gentlemanly or ladylike" in contests for resources?" This was a problem that leading ethologists Niko Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz were trying to address. Tinbergen proposed that such behaviour exists for the benefit of the species. Maynard Smith couldn't see this reasoning matched with Darwinian thought as he understood it, where selection occurs at an individual level and therefore defections to self-interest are rewarded while seeking the common good is not. Maynard Smith, a former engineer and highly competent mathematician, turned to game theory to answer the question. The suggestion that game theory might solve the problem was made by George Price even though some unsuccessfully applied efforts by Richard Lewontin at using game theory had failed. Maynard Smith’s way of applying this mathematics proved to be a far more realistic model, and came to be a major mathematical contribution in the field of theoretical biology.

Read more about this topic:  Evolutionary Game Theory

Famous quotes containing the word problem:

    The problem of the novelist who wishes to write about a man’s encounter with God is how he shall make the experience—which is both natural and supernatural—understandable, and credible, to his reader. In any age this would be a problem, but in our own, it is a well- nigh insurmountable one. Today’s audience is one in which religious feeling has become, if not atrophied, at least vaporous and sentimental.
    Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)

    Most childhood problems don’t result from “bad” parenting, but are the inevitable result of the growing that parents and children do together. The point isn’t to head off these problems or find ways around them, but rather to work through them together and in doing so to develop a relationship of mutual trust to rely on when the next problem comes along.
    Fred Rogers (20th century)