Prisoner's Dilemma, The Game

Prisoner's Dilemma, The Game

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/playground/pd.html

This "game" is a fun exercise in homeostatic mechanisms. When the option of compete/cooperate is given, select variants of each and assume each variant to represent an individual "symbiont" strategy for survival and Serendip as the "host". You are both attempting to compete for a limiting supply of resources (coins). The host and symbiont (you) are bound to cooperative balance, but neither option is necessarily preferable, in theory. In fact, when you try to trick Seredip, you always end up getting spited.

This is a model feedback loop. Zero is never reached, but as either opponent attempts to capitalize, they find they are returned the favor. There is a feedback to your moves, in that your opponent is "conditioned" to adjust accordingly. The thermostat model is an everyday example here: http://physioweb.med.uvm.edu/homeostasis/simple.htm

Understanding symbiology requires a general understanding of feedback loops.