So, what number do you choose?

So, I am reading the Freakonomics blog and they are discussing the Prisoners Dilemma game. They had an interesting couple of blog posts as to what question would you ask the other prisoner if you, yourself, were the other prisoner.

A brief aside: The Prisoners Dilemma is as follows: Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal: if one testifies ("defects") for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must make the choice of whether to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act? (Shamelessly lifted from wikipedia)

What happens in a one round game of the Prisoners Delimma is that each guy rats on the other, and both do 5 years; whereas, if they both trusted each other and shut up, they’d each do 6 months. The purpose of the questions of the blog is to use the best question to get enough information from your fellow prisoner to make the best decision for you. Here are the top 5 questions:

1. “How old are you?”

2. “What is the number of ethics courses you’ve taken, minus the number of economics courses you’ve taken?”

3. “Given that you are in a bar, would you prefer to pursue the most attractive person in the bar, or would your efforts focus on someone less attractive?”

4. “What is the name and address of your most cherished family member?”

5. “Have you read Freakonomics?”

My favorite is #4 (the eventual winner) because it really doesn’t seek information, but rather communicates a sociopathic warning. Which question do you like? Can you think of a better question? How do you rank the questions? Mine is 4, 2, 1, 3, and 5. I think #4 is the best for the stated reason; #2 is next because there is a working theory that people who take a lot of economic courses are cold and calculating and people who take lots of ethics courses are more cooporative (according to the people I know, people who take a lot of accounting and finance courses are boring); #1 is next because older people tend to be more cooporative than younger people, #3 is next because this is an incorrect demonstration of the Nash Equilibrum from the movie a beautiful mind; and, lastly, #5 because it was included in the list cause the guys at the Freakonomics blog are self-agradizing,

I think my claim to King Dork is safe.

Later,

B