Evolution and the Theory of Games is a 1982
bookA book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
by the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
evolutionary biologistEvolutionary biology is a sub-field of biology concerned with the origin of species from a common descent and descent of species, as well as their change, multiplication and diversity over time. Someone who studies evolutionary biology is known as an evolutionary biologist...
John Maynard SmithJohn Maynard Smith, F.R.S. was a British theoretical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he then took a second degree in genetics under the well-known biologist J.B.S. Haldane...
on
evolutionary game theoryEvolutionary game theory is the application of game theory to interaction dependent strategy evolution in populations. It originated in 1973 with John Maynard Smith and George R...
. In it, Maynard Smith summarises work on evolutionary game theory that had developed in the 1970s, to which he made several important contributions. The book is also noted for being well written and not overly mathematically challenging.
The main contribution to be had from this book is the introduction of the
Evolutionarily Stable StrategyIn game theory and behavioural ecology, an evolutionarily stable strategy is a strategy which, if adopted by a population of players, cannot be invaded by any alternative strategy that is initially rare...
, or ESS, concept, which states that for a set of behaviours to be conserved over evolutionary time, they must be the most profitable avenue of action when common, so that no alternative behaviour can invade.
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Evolution and the Theory of Games is a 1982
bookA book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
by the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
evolutionary biologistEvolutionary biology is a sub-field of biology concerned with the origin of species from a common descent and descent of species, as well as their change, multiplication and diversity over time. Someone who studies evolutionary biology is known as an evolutionary biologist...
John Maynard SmithJohn Maynard Smith, F.R.S. was a British theoretical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he then took a second degree in genetics under the well-known biologist J.B.S. Haldane...
on
evolutionary game theoryEvolutionary game theory is the application of game theory to interaction dependent strategy evolution in populations. It originated in 1973 with John Maynard Smith and George R...
. In it, Maynard Smith summarises work on evolutionary game theory that had developed in the 1970s, to which he made several important contributions. The book is also noted for being well written and not overly mathematically challenging.
The main contribution to be had from this book is the introduction of the
Evolutionarily Stable StrategyIn game theory and behavioural ecology, an evolutionarily stable strategy is a strategy which, if adopted by a population of players, cannot be invaded by any alternative strategy that is initially rare...
, or ESS, concept, which states that for a set of behaviours to be conserved over evolutionary time, they must be the most profitable avenue of action when common, so that no alternative behaviour can invade. So, for instance, suppose that in a population of frogs, males fight to the death over breeding ponds. This would be an ESS if any one cowardly frog that does not fight to the death always fares worse (in fitness terms, of course). A more likely scenario is one where fighting to the death is not an ESS because a frog might arise that will stop fighting if it realises that it is going to lose. This frog would then reap the benefits of fighting, but not the ultimate cost. Hence, fighting to the death would easily be invaded by a mutation that causes this sort of "informed fighting." Much complexity can be built from this, and Maynard Smith is outstanding at explaining in clear prose and with simple math.
Contents
- Introduction
- The basic model
- The war of attrition
- Games with genetic models
- Learning the ESS
- Mixed strategies-I. A classification of mechanisms
- Mixed strategies-II. Examples
- Asymmetric games-I. Ownership
- Asymmetric games-II. A classification, and some illustrative examples
- Asymmetric games-III. Sex and generation games
- Life history strategies and the size game
- Honesty, bargaining and commitment
- The evolution of cooperation
- Postscript
(NB: ESS is the
evolutionarily stable strategyIn game theory and behavioural ecology, an evolutionarily stable strategy is a strategy which, if adopted by a population of players, cannot be invaded by any alternative strategy that is initially rare...
)
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