The Problem
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"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 is simply this: no one can feel like CEO of his or her life in the presence of the people who toilet trained her and spanked him when he was naughty. We may have become Masters of the Universe, accustomed to giving life and taking it away, casually ordering people into battle or out of their jobs . . . and yet we may still dirty our diapers at the sound of our mommy’s whimper or our daddy’s growl.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“Will women find themselves in the same position they have always been? Or do we see liberation as solving the conditions of women in our society?... If we continue to shy away from this problem we will not be able to solve it after independence. But if we can say that our first priority is the emancipation of women, we will become free as members of an oppressed community.”
—Ruth Mompati (b. 1925)