Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1430
pubmed:dateCreated
1999-11-1
pubmed:abstractText
Cooperation is fundamental to many biological systems. A common metaphor for studying the evolution of cooperation is the Prisoner's Dilemma, a game with two strategies: cooperate or defect. However, cooperation is rare all or nothing, and its evolution probably involves the gradual extension of initially modest degrees of assistance. The inability of the Prisoner's Dilemma to capture this basic aspect limits its use for understanding the evolutionary origins of cooperation. Here we consider a framework for cooperation based on the concept of investment: an act which is costly, but which benefits other individuals, where the cost and benefit depend on the level of investment made. In the resulting Continuous Prisoner's Dilemma the essential problem of cooperation remains: in the absence of any additional structure non-zero levels of investment cannot evolve. However, if investments are considered in a spatially structured context, selfish individuals who make arbitrarily low investments can be invaded by higher-investing mutants. This results in the mean level of investment evolving to significant levels, where it is maintained indefinitely. This approach provides a natural solution to the fundamental problem of how cooperation gradually increases from a non-cooperative state.
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Sep
pubmed:issn
0962-8452
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
7
pubmed:volume
266
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1723-8
pubmed:dateRevised
2010-11-18
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1999
pubmed:articleTitle
Variable investment, the Continuous Prisoner's Dilemma, and the origin of cooperation.
pubmed:affiliation
Zoology Institute, University of Basel, Switzerland. killingback@ubaclu.unibas.ch
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article