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Prisoner's Dilemma at the Bookstore
February 4, 2008
One of the few concepts I've retained (perhaps somewhat shakily) from my ill-chosen undergraduate political science major (side note: why did Smith call it "government?" Was that to make it seem less technical?) is that of "
prisoner's dilemma."
So as not tax your Monday mental equilibrium (or mine) too greatly, let me remind you quickly and gently of this game theory idea. Two prisoners can either cooperate and reduce their combined sentences, but not go free -- or betray each other, and possibly go free, or possibly quadruple their sentences.
I was reminded of this non-zero-sum dilemma on Saturday evening as I spent a pleasant hour at the local bookstore with Mr. Bethanne and our younger Mini-Maven. I chose two books to buy:
People of the Book by
Geraldine Brooks and
Beautiful Children by
Charles Bock. I was proud of my restraint, since I really wanted to grab seven more titles -- but I knew we still had some shopping to do.
As I sailed serenely towards the checkout counter, Mr. Bethanne stepped into my path. "I see you have two books," he said, ever astute.
I nodded, looked him straight in the eye, and said, ever articulate, "Yes."
He cocked his head, looked back at me, and delivered this devastating sally: "One of those books is 30% off and the other one isn't on sale at all. Why don't you buy the sale book and download the other one to your Kindle? Of course, I'd rather you buy them both on the Kindle."
In other words, this prisoner's dilemma was: buy both books in hardcover and make my spouse grit his teeth, or buy both books in e-reader form and deny myself the pleasure of a real book. (The third choice, of course, would have been to have purchased no books in any form -- hardly a choice, I do acknowledge.) Reader, I compromised. I am prisoner of my own bibliophilic desires. I want to have my books and my e-reader, too.
I'm not saying it makes sense. I'm not saying it will bring Commenter Julie back (as she said, no one is
really asking me to choose). I'm just saying that for right now, I'm glad that I can spend a happy Sunday evening reading Brooks in hardcover (Superbowl? What Superbowl?) and look forward to a Monday lunchtime read of Bock in e-book form.
Posted by Bethanne Patrick on February 4, 2008 | Comments (3)
