Eli5: Why is Prisoners Dilemma considered a Dilemma?
In: 46
If we define dilemma as “a situation that requires a choice between options with expected probabilistic payoffs that are or seem equally unfavorable or unsatisfactory”, then dilemma seems appropriate if the prisoners have relationships (for example, familial or other ties) that would lead them to weigh sacrificing their individual interests for the communal interests.
In the usually presented prisoner’s dilemma payoff matrix, I suppose OP is right in that the Nash equilibrium shows that the prisoners don’t truly have a dilemma, with each prisoner having a dominant strategy and each prisoner’s dominant strategy dooming them both.
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