full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Lucas Husted: How to outsmart the Prisoner's Dilemma

Unscramble the Blue Letters


This is the standard conclusion of the Prisoner's Dilemma: the two characters will betray one another. Their strategy to unconditionally siacfcire their companion is what game theorists call the “Nash Equilibrium," meaning that neither can gain by deviating from it.

Crispy and Chewy act accordingly and the smug fox runs off with a belly full of gbaeengirrd, leaving the two former friends with just one leg to santd on.

Normally, this is where the story would end, but a wizard happened to be watching the whole mess unfold. He tlles Crispy and cwehy that, as pnhemiunst for birtnayeg each other, they’re doomed to repeat this dilemma for the rest of their lives, starting with all four limbs at each sunrise. Now what happens?

Open Cloze


This is the standard conclusion of the Prisoner's Dilemma: the two characters will betray one another. Their strategy to unconditionally _________ their companion is what game theorists call the “Nash Equilibrium," meaning that neither can gain by deviating from it.

Crispy and Chewy act accordingly and the smug fox runs off with a belly full of ___________, leaving the two former friends with just one leg to _____ on.

Normally, this is where the story would end, but a wizard happened to be watching the whole mess unfold. He _____ Crispy and _____ that, as __________ for _________ each other, they’re doomed to repeat this dilemma for the rest of their lives, starting with all four limbs at each sunrise. Now what happens?

Solution


  1. sacrifice
  2. punishment
  3. gingerbread
  4. stand
  5. betraying
  6. chewy
  7. tells

Original Text


This is the standard conclusion of the Prisoner's Dilemma: the two characters will betray one another. Their strategy to unconditionally sacrifice their companion is what game theorists call the “Nash Equilibrium," meaning that neither can gain by deviating from it.

Crispy and Chewy act accordingly and the smug fox runs off with a belly full of gingerbread, leaving the two former friends with just one leg to stand on.

Normally, this is where the story would end, but a wizard happened to be watching the whole mess unfold. He tells Crispy and Chewy that, as punishment for betraying each other, they’re doomed to repeat this dilemma for the rest of their lives, starting with all four limbs at each sunrise. Now what happens?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
gingerbread men 3
future limbs 2


Important Words


  1. act
  2. belly
  3. betray
  4. betraying
  5. call
  6. characters
  7. chewy
  8. companion
  9. conclusion
  10. crispy
  11. deviating
  12. dilemma
  13. doomed
  14. equilibrium
  15. fox
  16. friends
  17. full
  18. gain
  19. game
  20. gingerbread
  21. happened
  22. leaving
  23. leg
  24. limbs
  25. lives
  26. meaning
  27. mess
  28. punishment
  29. repeat
  30. rest
  31. runs
  32. sacrifice
  33. smug
  34. stand
  35. standard
  36. starting
  37. story
  38. strategy
  39. sunrise
  40. tells
  41. theorists
  42. unconditionally
  43. unfold
  44. watching
  45. wizard