**Doing something that hurts everyone to limit the amount you're hurt.** The Prisoner's Dilemma is a thought experiment wherein two people who've committed a crime are brought into separate interrogation rooms and given a choice wherein they can incriminate their old partner, giving that person a longer sentence, or shorten the severity of their own punishment. Outcomes: If `A rats on B` and `B rats on A` then they are both given 2 years of prison. If `A rats on B` and `B does not incriminate A` then `A` walks free `B` goes to prison for 3 years If `A does not incriminate B` and `B rats on A` then `A` goes to prison for 3 years `B` walks free If `A does not incriminate B` and `B does not incriminate A` then they both walk free In the dilemma, a **rational self-interested agent** would increment their partner. It gives them the least punishment, even if it guarantees that their partner ends up in jail for at least 1 year. This has all sorts of real-world practical implications, particularly in a military sense. See related notes. **** # More ## Source - [[Sapiens]] - [[The Sentiment Machine]] - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma) ## Related - [[Slippery Slope to Superhuman]] - [[AI Inevitability]] - [[Killer Robots]] - [[System Traps]]