Originally Posted by
Tchiowa
It doesn't. That's the point of the prisoner's dilemma. One person who cheats and wins big helps himself only. But other people see it so they jump in a cheat too. And everyone loses eventually.
Couple of points relative to the prisoner's dilemma as it plays out in the real world - it's cynical, but it's real:
1) Not everyone eventually breaks the rules, and those that never do are the biggest losers - i.e. the patsies.
2) So long as #1 holds, those that break the rules first are the biggest winners.