User:Nick Gardner /Sandbox: Difference between revisions

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Social capital is believed to come into being by the process termed [[Emergence (biology)|emergence]] by which a [[complex interactive system]]<ref> defined at [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Complex_interactive_system/Definition]</ref>  can  transform itself from chaos to order. The initial position is taken to be similar to the "state of nature" envisaged by [[Thomas Hobbes]] in which there is a constant "war of all against all". That condition is taken to be analagous to the [[prisoner's dilemma]] parable <ref> defined at [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma/Definition]</ref> in which both participants suffer unnecessarily  because neither trusts the other. It is known, however, that if the two protagonists expect to interact repeatedly they can arrive by trial and error at a mutually beneficial [[evolutionary stable strategy]] that once is established  is likely to persist.   
Social capital is believed to come into being by the process termed [[Emergence (biology)|emergence]] by which a [[complex interactive system]]<ref> defined at [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Complex_interactive_system/Definition]</ref>  can  transform itself from chaos to order. The initial position is taken to be similar to the "state of nature" envisaged by [[Thomas Hobbes]] in which there is a constant "war of all against all". That condition is taken to be analagous to the [[prisoner's dilemma]] parable <ref> defined at [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma/Definition]</ref> of [[games theory]], in which both participants suffer unnecessarily  because neither trusts the other. Emergence from that condition is taken to commence when the two protagonists interact repeatedly and arrive by trial and error at a mutually beneficial [[evolutionary stable strategy]] that once is established  is likely to persist. Experiments with human participants have shown that mutually beneficial strategies involving trust do tend to emerge, and that their stability  tends to be promoted by an urge to punish defectors.





Revision as of 17:25, 26 December 2009

Social capital is believed to come into being by the process termed emergence by which a complex interactive system[1] can transform itself from chaos to order. The initial position is taken to be similar to the "state of nature" envisaged by Thomas Hobbes in which there is a constant "war of all against all". That condition is taken to be analagous to the prisoner's dilemma parable [2] of games theory, in which both participants suffer unnecessarily because neither trusts the other. Emergence from that condition is taken to commence when the two protagonists interact repeatedly and arrive by trial and error at a mutually beneficial evolutionary stable strategy that once is established is likely to persist. Experiments with human participants have shown that mutually beneficial strategies involving trust do tend to emerge, and that their stability tends to be promoted by an urge to punish defectors.




  1. defined at [1]
  2. defined at [2]