Brian Clegg was always fascinated by Isaac Asimov's classic Foundation
series of books, in which the future is predicted using sophisticated
mathematical modelling of human psychology and behaviour.
Only much later did he realise that Asimov's 'psychohistory' had a
real-world equivalent: game theory.
Originating in the study of probabilistic gambling games that depend on
a random source - the throw of a dice or the toss of a coin - game
theory soon came to be applied to human interactions: essentially, what
was the best strategy to win, whatever you were doing? Its mathematical
techniques have been applied, with varying degrees of wisdom, to fields
such as economics, evolution, and questions such as how to win a nuclear
war.
Clegg delves into game theory's colourful history and significant
findings, and shows what we can all learn from this oft-misunderstood
field of study.