Evolution and the Theory of Games

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Evolution and the Theory of Games

LC Class

QH371 .M325 1982

Evolution and the Theory of Games is a book by the British evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith on evolutionary game theory.^[1][2][3] The book was initially published in December 1982 by Cambridge University Press.

In the book, John Maynard Smith summarises work on evolutionary game theory that had developed in the 1970s, to which he made several important contributions.

The main contribution of the book is in introducing the concept of

(ESS). ESS states that for a set of behaviours to be conserved over evolutionary time, they must be the most beneficial avenue of action when common, so that no alternative behaviour can invade. Supposing, for instance, that in a population of frogs, males fight to the death over breeding ponds. This would be an ESS if any one cowardly frog that does not fight to the death always fares worse (in terms of evolutionary survival fitness). A more likely scenario is one in which fighting to the death is not an ESS because a frog might arise that will stop fighting if it realises that it is going to lose. This frog would thus reap the benefits of fighting, but not the ultimate cost. Hence, fighting to the death would easily be invaded by a mutation that causes this "informed fighting." Much complexity can develop from this.

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• Evolutionary biology

• Cambridge University Press