Q 01/05

Which Kubrick film, made with advice from game theorist Thomas Schelling, features a Soviet doomsday machine?

A) Paths of Glory

B) Full Metal Jacket

C) Dr. Strangelove

D) A Clockwork Orange

Answer · why

C) Dr. Strangelove

Dr. Strangelove turns on a deterrent nobody was told about. As the title character protests, a doomsday machine only deters an enemy who knows it exis...

Q 02/05

Which Best Picture-winning film stars Russell Crowe as game theory pioneer John Nash?

A) A Beautiful Mind

B) Good Will Hunting

C) The Imitation Game

D) The Theory of Everything

Answer · why

A) A Beautiful Mind

A Beautiful Mind won four Academy Awards. In its best-known scene, classmates debating how to approach a group of women at a bar give Nash his breakth...

Q 03/05

Which game theory model is named after a dare in which two drivers speed head-on until one swerves?

A) Deadlock

B) Chicken

C) Centipede

D) Stag hunt

Answer · why

B) Chicken

Chicken brands whoever swerves first a coward. The philosopher Bertrand Russell compared the nuclear standoff between East and West to the same deadly...

Q 04/05

In game theory, how should a rock paper scissors player pick moves so that no opponent can gain an edge?

A) In a fixed rotation

B) By copying the opponent

C) By repeating winners

D) Uniformly at random

Answer · why

D) Uniformly at random

Uniformly at random, with every throw equally likely, leaves an opponent no pattern to exploit. Against anyone more predictable, a player can gain an ...

Q 05/05

In the one-shot prisoner's dilemma, which choice leaves each suspect better off whatever the accomplice decides?

A) Staying silent

B) Betraying the partner

C) Taking all the blame

D) Asking for a joint trial

Answer · why

B) Betraying the partner

Betraying the partner always shortens your own sentence, so it is the dominant strategy. The catch is that when both suspects reason this way, both en...