Two evolutionary biologists from Michigan State University (USA) have shown that evolution punishes the selfish , because selfishness is not evolutionarily sustainable . On the contrary, cooperating pays off in the long run. In an article published this week by Nature Communications , the microbiologist and molecular geneticist Christoph Adami, who has studied the origin of cooperation in living organisms for thirty years, explains how he used the prisoner's dilemma game to study the mechanisms of cooperation. The dilemma is a game theory problem in which two crime suspects are arrested and locked in solitary confinement so that they cannot communicate with each other. The police lack sufficient evidence to convict them, so it is decided to separate them and give them the same treatment, trying to get both to provide the evidence to blame the other. If both remain silent, they remain in prison for a month; if both confess, they remain three months. And if one blames the other, he is free, while his partner remains in jail for six months.
Investigators showed that when prisoners are allowed to talk to each other they always decide to cooperate and keep quiet to get as little damage as possible together (one month each). But if they do not communicate, they tend to think only of themselves and confess, because in this way they avoid that if the other betrays their grief, it becomes six months. Adami and his colleagues conclude that cooperating is more beneficial in the long term , but that information and communication are essential for cooperation to occur.
