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Cooperation Works if Majority Can Punish Freeloaders

Posted by michael on from the cooperate-or-die dept.

plasmid writes: "Some Swiss economists ran an investment game... they found that if the majority could punish freeloaders, cooperation flourished. I think this has implications for cooperative peer-to-peer systems and, to a lesser extent, for open source development. I'm so inspired I plan to go out an punish someone right now, as a matter of fact." I had just read this article the other day (go memepool), so this Nature piece seems oddly apropos.

1 of 408 comments (clear)

  1. Boy There's a Loaded Proposition by Saint+Stephen · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Gee, what an enlightened statement.

    Folks like to ostracize and hurt people. Very lord of the flies. Once they get rid of the first freeloaders they'll find they like it too much and then keep on selecting somebody else.

    Jesus, how bold -- who can make a statement about punishing people with a straight face?

    Somehow I don't think that's what Jesus and/or Socrates had in mind :-)