IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jgames/v15y2024i5p30-d1464361.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nash Equilibria and Undecidability in Generic Physical Interactions—A Free Energy Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Chris Fields

    (Allen Discovery Center, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA)

  • James F. Glazebrook

    (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL 61920, USA
    Adjunct Faculty, Department of Mathematics, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA)

Abstract

We start from the fundamental premise that any physical interaction can be interpreted as a game. To demonstrate this, we draw upon the free energy principle and the theory of quantum reference frames. In this way, we place the game-theoretic Nash Equilibrium in a new light in so far as the incompleteness and undecidability of the concept, as well as the nature of strategies in general, can be seen as the consequences of certain no-go theorems. We show that games of the generic imitation type follow a circularity of idealization that includes the good regulator theorem, generalized synchrony, and undecidability of the Turing test. We discuss Bayesian games in the light of Bell non-locality and establish the basics of quantum games, which we relate to local operations and classical communication protocols. In this light, we also review the rationality of gaming strategies from the players’ point of view.

Suggested Citation

  • Chris Fields & James F. Glazebrook, 2024. "Nash Equilibria and Undecidability in Generic Physical Interactions—A Free Energy Perspective," Games, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-22, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jgames:v:15:y:2024:i:5:p:30-:d:1464361
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/15/5/30/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/15/5/30/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McKelvey Richard D. & Palfrey Thomas R., 1995. "Quantal Response Equilibria for Normal Form Games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 6-38, July.
    2. Jørgen Jacobsen, Hans, 1996. "On the Foundations of Nash Equilibrium," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 67-88, April.
    3. John C. Harsanyi, 1967. "Games with Incomplete Information Played by "Bayesian" Players, I-III Part I. The Basic Model," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(3), pages 159-182, November.
    4. Evan Friedman, 2022. "Stochastic Equilibria: Noise in Actions or Beliefs?," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 94-142, February.
    5. Patrick Grim, 1997. "The undecidability of the spatialized prisoner's dilemma," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 53-80, January.
    6. Neyman, Abraham, 1985. "Bounded complexity justifies cooperation in the finitely repeated prisoners' dilemma," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 227-229.
    7. Christian Ewerhart, 1998. "Rationality and the definition of consistent pairs," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 27(1), pages 49-59.
    8. Sergiu Hart & Andreu Mas-Colell, 2013. "Uncoupled Dynamics Do Not Lead To Nash Equilibrium," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Simple Adaptive Strategies From Regret-Matching to Uncoupled Dynamics, chapter 7, pages 153-163, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Fey, Mark, 2024. "An undecidable statement regarding zero-sum games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 19-26.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Philippe Jehiel, 2022. "Analogy-Based Expectation Equilibrium and Related Concepts:Theory, Applications, and Beyond," Working Papers halshs-03735680, HAL.
    2. Jehiel, Philippe, 2005. "Analogy-based expectation equilibrium," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 81-104, August.
    3. Benjamin Patrick Evans & Mikhail Prokopenko, 2021. "Bounded rationality for relaxing best response and mutual consistency: The Quantal Hierarchy model of decision-making," Papers 2106.15844, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2023.
    4. Spiegler, Ran, 2005. "Testing threats in repeated games," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 214-235, April.
    5. Duffy, Sean & Smith, John, 2011. "Cognitive load in the multi-player prisoner's dilemma game," MPRA Paper 30856, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Jonathan Newton, 2018. "Evolutionary Game Theory: A Renaissance," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-67, May.
    7. von Wangenheim, Georg & Müller, Stephan, 2014. "Evolution of cooperation in social dilemmas: signaling internalized norms," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100340, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Lim, Wooyoung & Neary, Philip R., 2016. "An experimental investigation of stochastic adjustment dynamics," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 208-219.
    9. Michael Mäs & Dirk Helbing, 2020. "Random Deviations Improve Micro–Macro Predictions: An Empirical Test," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 49(2), pages 387-417, May.
    10. Caballero, William N. & Lunday, Brian J. & Deckro, Richard F. & Pachter, Meir N., 2020. "Informing national security policy by modeling adversarial inducement and its governance," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    11. Ochea, Marius-Ionut, 2013. "Evolution of repeated prisoner's dilemma play under logit dynamics," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 2483-2499.
    12. Shuige Liu & Fabio Maccheroni, 2021. "Quantal Response Equilibrium and Rationalizability: Inside the Black Box," Papers 2106.16081, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2024.
    13. Norman, Thomas W.L., 2023. "Pigouvian algorithmic platform design," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 322-332.
    14. Evan Friedman & Duarte Gonc{c}alves, 2023. "Quantal Response Equilibrium with a Continuum of Types: Characterization and Nonparametric Identification," Papers 2307.08011, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2024.
    15. Mäs, Michael & Nax, Heinrich H., 2016. "A behavioral study of “noise” in coordination games," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65422, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Amos Golan & James Bono, 2010. "Identifying Strategies and Beliefs without Rationality Assumptions," Working Papers 2010-12, American University, Department of Economics.
    17. Benjamin Patrick Evans & Mikhail Prokopenko, 2024. "Bounded rationality for relaxing best response and mutual consistency: the quantal hierarchy model of decision making," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 71-111, February.
    18. James W. Bono & David H. Wolpert, 2009. "How to Use Decision Theory to Choose Among Mechanisms," Working Papers 2009-11, American University, Department of Economics.
    19. Caballero, William N. & Lunday, Brian J. & Uber, Richard P., 2021. "Identifying behaviorally robust strategies for normal form games under varying forms of uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(3), pages 971-982.
    20. Sandholm, William H., 2015. "Population Games and Deterministic Evolutionary Dynamics," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications,, Elsevier.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jgames:v:15:y:2024:i:5:p:30-:d:1464361. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.