John Maynard Smith dies
Evolutionary biologist applied game theory to evolution, defended
neo-Darwinism
By Catherine Brahic

One of the most renowned and influential evolutionary biologists of his
generation, John Maynard Smith, died of lung cancer on April 19, at the age
of 84.

Maynard Smith was probably most widely known for applying game theory to
evolutionary biology. Originally developed in 1944 by John von Neumann and
Oskar Morgentern, game theory is a mathematical model used by economists to
study the outcomes of interactions between "collaborators" and
"enemies" in
situations in which neither can entirely predict the actions of the other,
but can adapt their behavior according to what they see the other doing.

Maynard Smith applied game theory to interactions between competing
individuals of the same species that use different stratagems for survival.

Imagine combat in which each individual must decide whether or not to
escalate the fight without knowing his opponent's decision. Maynard Smith
showed, with George Price, that the interests of both combatants are best
served if both decide not to escalate the fight.

Read the rest at The Scientist.com
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040426/02

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek.
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