Evolution of the Social Contract

People who take Game Theory 101 often leave with the impression that they should always defect.

If this were true, society would be a much nastier place. Evolution of the Social Contract is the antidote to this simplistic view. In the book, Skyrms shows via the evolutionary game theory, how notions of fairness and reciprocity that are ingrained in our social contract can arise from rational self-interest.

If On What Matters teases this game theoretic intuition for morality, Evolution of the Social Contract shows how the mathematics actually pencils out.