Science Proves That Nice Guys Finish First

The smart people at AsapSCIENCE published this video (inspired by the novel The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins) to explore how humans interact when they know inherently how to harm one another. There's a game called "The Prisoner's Dilemma" that has two people face off and try to out-earn their opponent.

It goes like this: Each player has two cards, DEFECT and COOPERATE. If both play DEFECT, each person loses $10. If both play COOPERATE, each wins $300. If they play separate cards, he who played DEFECT wins $500, and he who played COOPERATE loses $100.

You're probably thinking about your own strategies in such a scenario: Do you try to win $500 each time (at risk of only losing $10), or do you risk losing $100 by trying to just win $300? Let this video explain the best strategy, and enjoy the optimistic conclusion.

Illustration via AsapSCIENCE