Editing Prisoner's dilemma (section)

== Premise ==
[[File:prisoners_dilemma.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|An example prisoner's dilemma payoff matrix]]
[[William Poundstone]] described this "typical contemporary version" of the game in his 1993 book ''Prisoner's Dilemma'':

<blockquote>Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of speaking to or exchanging messages with the other. The police admit they don't have enough evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge. They plan to sentence both to a year in prison on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the police offer each prisoner a [[Faustian bargain]]. If he testifies against his partner, he will go free while the partner will get three years in prison on the main charge. Oh, yes, there is a catch ... If ''both'' prisoners testify against each other, both will be sentenced to two years in jail. The prisoners are given a little time to think this over, but in no case may either learn what the other has decided until he has irrevocably made his decision. Each is informed that the other prisoner is being offered the very same deal. Each prisoner is concerned only with his own welfare—with minimizing his own prison sentence.<ref>{{harvnb|Poundstone|1993|p=118}}: "A typical contemporary version of the story goes like this: Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of speaking to or exchanging messages with the other. The police admit they don't have enough evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge. They plan to sentence both to a year in prison on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the police offer each prisoner a Faustian bargain. If he testifies against his partner, he will go free while the partner will get three years in prison on the main charge. Oh, yes, there is a catch ... If both prisoners testify against each other, both will be sentenced to two years in jail. The prisoners are given a little time to think this over, but in no case may either learn what the other has decided until he has irrevocably made his decision. Each is informed that the other prisoner is being offered the very same deal. Each prisoner is concerned only with his own welfare—with minimizing his own prison sentence."</ref></blockquote>

This leads to three different possible outcomes for prisoners A and B:
# If A and B both remain silent, they will each serve one year in prison.
# If one testifies against the other but the other doesn’t, the one testifying will be set free while the other serves three years in prison.
# If A and B testify against each other, they will each serve two years.