All TFT did was cooperate on the first Prisoner’s Dilemma round, then in every subsequent round, it did whatever the opponent did previously—that is, if on the previous round the opponent cooperated, it cooperated on the next round; if the opponent betrayed, it betrayed on the next round. This simple program decimated the competition. So Axelrod

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What goes around comes around, less because of karma, but because of game theory. Life is an infinite game: If you cooperate, people will cooperate with you, and vice versa. To get long-term cooperators, you must suffer some defectors (“get taken advantage of”). Don’t defect. Embrace the paradoxical commandments.