Cameron Carpenter

Dan King
Game Theory and Strategy
4/14/16
Particles Dilemma (Or Lack Thereof)
By far the best-known concept in the field of Game Theory is the Prisoners Dilemma
(PD), and for good reasonthis mathematical thought experiment is applicable to any situation
in which individuals who cannot communicate must chose between acting selfishly to maximize
their own reward, or acting cooperatively to assure mutual benefit to all parties. Any number of
players might be involved in a game of Prisoners Dilemma, but for the sake of simplicity, and
since the number of players is irrelevant to the topic of this essay, I will be focusing on twoperson PD games, which are very straightforwardPlayer One and Player Two each must
choose whether to cooperate or defect simultaneously with absolutely no communication. If one
player cooperates and the other defects, the defector walks away with the highest payoff of the
game. If they both cooperate, they each get a mutual payoff less than that of a sole defector. If
they both defect, they each receive a payoff less than that of cooperators.
Now, the best strategy changes wildly depending on one variablethe number of times
the two players play. If the game is only played once, then defection is the best strategy, as it
ensures that one will receive either the highest payoff or the second-lowest payoff. However,
when the game is repeated indefinitely, eternal defection is pointless as both players could do far
better by eternally cooperating. If the players are reasonable they will realize this after a few
iterations of the game and begin cooperating. Once this truce has been reached, it is in neither
players interest to take advantage of the others trust, since the immediate reward of sole
defection in one game is not worth ruining the benefit of future cooperation. Thus, a sort of
mutually assured collaboration comes to be. This is the reason the Prisoners Dilemma has

been used extensively in the field of evolutionary biology as an abstraction of the kinds of
situations that might have led to the emergence of cooperative behavior in our ancestors.
By the laws of classical mathematics and logic, the Prisoners Dilemma is, theoretically, a
perfect prisonthe only way for the players to escape the dilemma in a real-life scenario would
be to break the rules of the game, at which point their predicament would no longer be a
Prisoners Dilemma. In a world abiding by classical physics, the only way out of a PD is to
break out of the system. In other wordsthe only way to win is not to play. However, by the
laws of quantum physics, it is, in fact, possible to guarantee success in iterated or singular PD
from within the system (i.e., not cheating).
The paradoxical behavior of subatomic particles could possibly be exploited to
accomplish feats once thought to be impossiblefaster-than-light travel, teleportation, timetravel, etc. While were a long way away from time machines and warp-speed spacecraft, it has
been empirically proven that quantum particles are able to move faster than light, appear in
multiple places at the same time, teleport, and retroactively choose their path upon observation.
Much like Schrodingers Cat, which is simultaneously alive and dead inside a box until someone
looks inside, subatomic particles exist in what physicists call superpositionthey embody
every possible state of existence available to them at the same time. It is only upon observation
that particles collapse out of superposition and into one of their possible states.
The best concrete example of this phenomenon is in quantum computing. The basic unit
of information in a digital computer is a bit, which can exist in one of two possible states
weve assigned the symbols 1 and 0 to describe these states, but that is arbitrarywe could
have easily used yes/no, x/y, on/off, 1/2, cat/dog, etc. In a quantum computer, such as
the one co-owned by NASA and Google in Silicon Valley, the basic unit of information is a

qubitquantum bit. What makes qubits advantageous over traditional bits is that qubits can
exist in three states0, 1, or both at the same time. This is superposition in action
exponentially increasing computing power by exploiting a quantum paradox.
Now, what does all this have to do with Game Theory and the Prisoners Dilemma?
Well, if we play PD in a universe governed not by the laws of classical physics but by the laws of
quantum physics, something fascinating and very meaningful happensthe dilemma
disappears, even though the rules of the game have not been broken. Heres how: In a standard,
two-player game of PD, each player must choose to cooperate or defect simultaneously.
However, in a two-player game of quantum Prisoners Dilemma (QPD), each player has three
options: Cooperate, defect, or both at the same timea move dubbed super cooperator.
Remember that particles in superposition embody all possible states of existence until observed
in the case of QPD, the two possible states upon observation are cooperation or defection, and
the observer is the opponents choice. In other words, super cooperator mirrors the opponents
move. If Player One decides to super cooperate, he will be simultaneously defecting and
cooperating until Player Twos choice is revealed. If Player Two chooses to cooperate, then
super cooperator will collapse into the state of cooperation. If Player Two defects, then super
cooperator will collapse into the state of defection. If Player Two chooses to super cooperate as
well, that is equivalent to mutual cooperation.
The option of super cooperation completely changes the prescription of play for PD
super cooperation is the dominant strategy in every possible scenario, regardless of any variable.
Its the ultimate bet-hedging strategyit ensures that the user will never receive the suckers
payoff (cooperating when your opponent defects), and removes incentive to defect, since a
strategy of infinite super cooperation cannot be taken advantage of. Super cooperation is tit-for-

tat in real timerewarding cooperation and punishing defection not on the next move, but the
moment the choice is revealed.
But waitwe can still go further down the rabbit hole. There is another quantum
phenomenon that can be taken advantage of to outfox the Prisoners Dilemma without breaking
its rulesentanglement. A pair of entangled particles mirror each other perfectlythey
always have the exact same properties (e.g., momentum, spin, polarization, etc.). Whats really
fascinating about entangled particles, however, is that altering the state of one of them always
alters the state of the other in precisely the same way at exactly the same time, no matter how far
away the particles might be from each other.
Lets use superposition as an examplesay we have a pair of entangled photons, neither
of which are being observed, so theyre in superposition. One of them is on Earth, the other is in
MACS0647-JD, a galaxy more than thirteen billion light-years from the Milky Way. If anyone
were to observe the earthbound photon (thus collapsing its state of superposition), the photon on
MACS0647-JD, despite not being under observation, would collapse out of superposition as well
at the exact same instanta delay of absolute zero. Forget surpassing the speed of light
entangled particles transmit information in literally no time flat.
One can easily see the potentially groundbreaking uses for this ability virtually
everywhere, but lets get back to game theory. Utilizing entanglement to guarantee success in
the PD is actually far simpler than using superposition. So simple in fact that we dont even need
to use the quantum Prisoners Dilemma or the super cooperator movea traditional PD game
will do the job just fine. Unlike superposition, which adds a new move, entanglement changes
the way the players moves relate to each othernamely, by entangling them.

Entangled

moves must always be identical; therefore the only possible outcomes are mutual cooperation or

mutual defection. Its physically impossible for one player to cooperate while the other defects if
their moves are entangled, since that outcome requires the two moves to be in different states.
You end up with the same result utilizing either entanglement or superpositionthe
temptation/sucker payoff outcomes are taken off the table, and the players are left to choose
between receiving a mutual reward or a mutual punishment. Quite a dilemma.
Is this quantum extension of the Prisoners Dilemma relevant to the real-life situations
that the original PD was based on? Certainly not at the moment, but the science of manipulating
quantum eccentricities is still in its infancy. While this is nothing more than my own
speculation, I believe QPD will prove to be very relevant to real-life as humanitys understanding
of quantum physics deepens. Again, I will draw a parallel between quantum game theory and
quantum computing, as the latter is the most successful example of human exploitation of
subatomic weirdness. The notion of utilizing qubits to exponentially increase computational
power was initially conceived in 1982 by Richard Feynman at Caltech. Sixteen years later, the
first quantum computer was constructedwith a 3-qubit processor. In 2011, D-Wave Systems in
British Columbia began manufacturing the first commercially available quantum computer, the
D-Wave One, with a 128-qubit processor. Currently, the D-Wave 2Xyours for only fifteen
million dollarshas a 1,152-qubit processor.
My point isin the span of only thirty-four years, a relatively miniscule amount of time
in the grand scope of human innovation, quantum computing evolved from a fanciful concept
into an industry that created a machine with the power to execute extremely complex processes
operations that would take a standard computer approximately ten thousand years to complete
in a matter of seconds. Quantum mechanics was first applied to game theory in the early
nineties. Whos to say where the field could be in a decade? Again, this is nothing more than

my own speculation, but I predict that as humanity furthers its knowledge, exploration and
utilization of subatomic phenomena, the time at which quantum game theory is relevant to reallife situations will come, most likely through the integration of quantum technology into our
daily lives.