Computer science and logic
Game theory has come to play an increasingly important role in logic and in computer science. Several logical theories have a basis in game semantics. In addition, computer scientists have used games to model interactive computations. Also, game theory provides a theoretical basis to the field of multi-agent systems.
Separately, game theory has played a role in online algorithms; in particular, the k-server problem, which has in the past been referred to as games with moving costs and request-answer games. Yao's principle is a game-theoretic technique for proving lower bounds on the computational complexity of randomized algorithms, especially online algorithms.
The emergence of the internet has motivated the development of algorithms for finding equilibria in games, markets, computational auctions, peer-to-peer systems, and security and information markets. Algorithmic game theory and within it algorithmic mechanism design combine computational algorithm design and analysis of complex systems with economic theory.
| Stag | Hare | |
| Stag | 3, 3 | 0, 2 |
| Hare | 2, 0 | 2, 2 |
| Stag hunt | ||
Game theory has been put to several uses in philosophy. Responding to two papers by W.V.O. Quine (1960, 1967), Lewis (1969) used game theory to develop a philosophical account of convention. In so doing, he provided the first analysis of common knowledge and employed it in analyzing play in coordination games. In addition, he first suggested that one can understand meaning in terms of signaling games. This later suggestion has been pursued by several philosophers since Lewis. Following Lewis (1969) game-theoretic account of conventions, Edna Ullmann-Margalit (1977) and Bicchieri (2006) have developed theories of social norms that define them as Nash equilibria that result from transforming a mixed-motive game into a coordination game.
Game theory has also challenged philosophers to think in terms of interactive epistemology: what it means for a collective to have common beliefs or knowledge, and what are the consequences of this knowledge for the social outcomes resulting from agents' interactions. Philosophers who have worked in this area include Bicchieri (1989, 1993),Skyrms (1990), and Stalnaker (1999).
In ethics, some authors have attempted to pursue Thomas Hobbes' project of deriving morality from self-interest. Since games like the prisoner's dilemma present an apparent conflict between morality and self-interest, explaining why cooperation is required by self-interest is an important component of this project. This general strategy is a component of the general social contract view in political philosophy (for examples, see Gauthier (1986) and Kavka (1986)).
Other authors have attempted to use evolutionary game theory in order to explain the emergence of human attitudes about morality and corresponding animal behaviors. These authors look at several games including the prisoner's dilemma, stag hunt, and the Nash bargaining game as providing an explanation for the emergence of attitudes about morality (see, e.g., Skyrms (1996, 2004) and Sober and Wilson
Based on the book by Sylvia Nasar,the life story of game theorist and mathematician John Nash was turned into the biopic A Beautiful Mind starring Russell Crowe.
"Games theory" and "theory of games" are mentioned in the military science fiction novel Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. In the 1997 film of the same name, the character Carl Jenkins refers to his assignment to military intelligence as to "games and theory."
The film Dr. Strangelove satirizes game theoretic ideas about deterrence theory. For example, nuclear deterrence depends on the threat to retaliate catastrophically if a nuclear attack is detected. A game theorist might argue that such threats can fail to be credible, in the sense that they can lead to subgame imperfect equilibria. The movie takes this idea one step further, with the Russians irrevocably committing to a catastrophic nuclear response without making the threat public.
Liar Game is a popular Japanese Manga, television program and movie, where each episode presents the main characters with a Game Theory type game. The show's supporting characters reflect and explore game theory's predictions around self-preservation strategies used in each challenge. The main character however, who is portrayed as an innocent, naive and good hearted young lady Kansaki Nao, always attempts to convince the other players to follow a mutually beneficial strategy where everybody wins. Kansaki Nao's seemingly simple strategies that appear to be the product of her innocent good nature actually represent optimal equilibrium solutions which Game Theory attempts to solve. Other players however, usually use her naivety against her to follow strategies that serve self-preservation. The show improvises heavily on Game Theory predictions and strategies to provide each episode's script, the players decisions. In a sense, each episode exhibits a Game Theory game and the strategies/ equilibria/ solutions provide the script which is coloured in by the actors.
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