The Prisoner's Dilemma is the most famous of all conundrums in philosophy and game theory. It deals with a circumstance where two prisoners are given an option to cooperate with one another, or act in their own self-interest. The unexpected mathematical conclusion of the game is that each person should choose not to cooperate and to act in his own self-interest, to the ultimate detriment of both.
On occasion, such as yesterday, mom decides to play out this experiment in real life. She will tell Pete and Sam: "If you boys can agree on a place for lunch, we will go there. If you can't agree, we will stay home." It does not take a mathematician or philosopher to guess how the story ends. (Hint: there is a lot of yelling)
Of course Pete and Sam have an advantage over the prisoners in the classic game, since they are permitted to openly collaborate with one another. Thus, I am optimistic that in the next 3-5 years the boys will reach an age of reason where they will work together for the greater good.
3 comments:
Keep hoping. As they get older the self perservation mode is displayed more often.
maybe they will try to trick each other by saying a restaurant the other one likes, thereby hoping the other will then choose another restaurant ... oy vay ... parenting can be, and is, very challenging
we haven't faced this issue yet as skyler is happy to go anywhere at this point, even a trip to wawa.
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