> Business may be a game, Levine realized, but it's not a one-time game. It's more like an infinite game. It's a game in which people have to live with each other, work with each other again, and perhaps, write another big contract.
In technical terms, it can be modeled as an iterated prisoner's dilemma [1]. In a regular one-off prisoner's dilemma, it always makes sense for both players to defect, as does in an iterated PD with a set number of rounds, known to both players. That is the only Nash equilibrium. But in an iterated PD where the number of rounds is unknown in advance, more cooperative strategies can be superior.
In technical terms, it can be modeled as an iterated prisoner's dilemma [1]. In a regular one-off prisoner's dilemma, it always makes sense for both players to defect, as does in an iterated PD with a set number of rounds, known to both players. That is the only Nash equilibrium. But in an iterated PD where the number of rounds is unknown in advance, more cooperative strategies can be superior.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma#The_itera...