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Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780385415804
Book Description Condition: New. Brand New. Seller Inventory # 9780385415804
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Poundstone's three dimensional outline of game theory mathematics sketches the life of its inventor, John von Neumann, and his role in cold war policy making. There are also interesting descriptions of Neumann's childhood in the anti semitic environment of pre-WWII Hungary and his early conversion to Catholicism. It is to Neumann that we owe much of the terminology (MAD, first strike) that framed the discourse of the Cold War. This book is both frightening and essential for scholars of the Cold War, and a testament to a wayward and arrogant, mathematical genius. John von Neumann invented the digital computer, played a key role in the development of the atom bomb, constructed a branch of mathematics known as game theory, and became a defender of a movement to bomb the Russians before they could bomb us. Now comes a biography of this controversial genius and an exploration of his greatest idea--one that nearly triggered a nuclear war in 1950. Photographs. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780385415804
Book Description Softcover. Condition: new. A masterful work of science writing thats "both a fascinating biography of von Neumann, the Hungarian exile whose mathematical theories were building blocks for the A-bomb and the digital computer, and a brilliant social history of game theory and its role in the Cold War and nuclear arms race" (San Francisco Chronicle).Should you watch public television without pledging?.Exceed the posted speed limit?.Hop a subway turnstile without paying? These questions illustrate the so-called "prisoner's dilemma", a social puzzle that we all face every day. Though the answers may seem simple, their profound implications make the prisoner's dilemma one of the great unifying concepts of science. Watching players bluff in a poker game inspired John von Neumann-father of the modern computer and one of the sharpest minds of the century-to construct game theory, a mathematical study of conflict and deception. Game theory was readily embraced at the RAND Corporation, the archetypical think tank charged with formulating military strategy for the atomic age, and in 1950 two RAND scientists made a momentous discovery.Called the "prisoner's dilemma," it is a disturbing and mind-bending game where two or more people may betray the common good for individual gain. Introduced shortly after the Soviet Union acquired the atomic bomb, the prisoner's dilemma quickly became a popular allegory of the nuclear arms race. Intellectuals such as von Neumann and Bertrand Russell joined military and political leaders in rallying to the "preventive war" movement, which advocated a nuclear first strike against the Soviet Union. Though the Truman administration rejected preventive war the United States entered into an arms race with the Soviets and game theory developed into a controversial tool of public policy-alternately accused of justifying arms races and touted as the only hope of preventing them.Prisoner's Dilemma is the incisive story of a revolutionary idea that has been hailed as a landmark of twentieth-century thought. Seller Inventory # DADAX038541580X
Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # WB-9780385415804
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780385415804
Book Description Condition: New. pp. 320. Seller Inventory # 26744490
Book Description Condition: New. . Seller Inventory # 52GZZZ00S0QA_ns
Book Description Condition: New. pp. 320. Seller Inventory # 8184821