Donald Trump & The Prisoner's Dilemma.

[Jehanne]

No one disputes that The Donald has an ethnocentric view of the Untied States, and middle to upper class individuals, especially, white individuals.  But, if he truly tries to put "America first", will the classic Prisoner's Dilemma be the result:



As with the cold war era that I grew-up in ('70s & '80s), will Donald Trump's policy, in trying "to make America great again" simply lead to a World where everyone is worse off?  The answer seems obvious, but my mind remains open.  More information here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma

[vorlon13]

Russia's economy is very close in size to Italy's.

So the spend/spend square would be a 'win' for us too.


Meanwhile, China is busy annexing the Philippines . . .

[Jehanne]

That's not the point of my OP.  Here's the central idea behind TPD:

The prisoner's dilemma is a standard example of a game analyzed in game theory that shows why two completely "rational" individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so. It was originally framed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher working at RAND in 1950.

Let's say that you don't trust me, because you think that I am an asshole who is out to screw you.  And, so, you and I both behave in ways whereby we end up having less as compared to a scenario in which we had cooperated, and in doing so, we would have both ended-up having more.

The Donald "wants to make American great again" (by the way, when was it, Mr. Tump?), but the only way to "make America great" is to screw the other Nations of the World.  But, in screwing (or, at least trying to) other Nations, they can and will screw us back, which means, in the end, everyone loses, which means that American will be more worse off than it was before.  And, so, in the end, Trump "trying to make America great" will only make it into a hellhole, along with the other nations of the World.