Relevant and Meaningful Applications of Game Theory: Steven J. Brams Guest Speaker

Steven J. Brams presenting Game Theory and the Humanities: Bridging Two Worlds at Mount Saint Mary College, November 12, 2013. Photo Credit: Clarisa Rosario

 

When Steven Brams, established professor and author, introduced the title of his presentation "Game Theory and the Humanities: Bridging Two Worlds", I was very happy to put my foreign languages interest to use (the title was written in Portuguese).   

He presented interesting ways to look at historical events through the scope of Game Theory. Some of the historical topics he presented mirrored the Game Theory concepts of the “Game of Chicken”, the “Prisoner’s Dilemma”, and I believe “Predator-Prey” as well. Professor Brams was able to show Game Theory in the areas of Shakespeare (literature), Biblical studies, War strategies, and others such as the witch trials.

Due to my studies thus far on Game Theory, I was able to follow his explanations of the payoff matrices without too much trouble, and I was very happy to see some of the ideas I have come across in his presentation. In addition, he talked about some of the Game Theory concepts I have yet to master, which is the Nash equilibrium of each ‘game’, and  a different kind of equilibrium specific to when ‘players’ plot the potential strategies of their competitors (or cooperators). 

In addition, Brams briefly mentioned some more Game Theory topics I have currently been researching but have not yet come to an understanding of, including the dominant strategy, and an active vs passive approach. I am looking forward to doing more research with my classmate on this topic as it is very interesting to me and I'd like to know more. The topic is so broad and rich that it will be a challenge to find out what to focus on when we spend the 15 minutes presenting it to our class!