Tapsearch Com EditorThe prisoners' dilemma and school shootings
September 8th 2007 18:16
Jeremy Lott's post about my American Spectator article on the Virginia Tech panel pointed out how the massacre was pulled off by a novice -- the panel uncovered no evidence that the shooter had any experience with firearms beyond practicing with his new guns for an hour once. Multiple-victim public shootings have shown time and again that one armed person can murder tens of unarmed people without much resistance.
That got me to thinking about the prisoners' dilemma. Obviously, looking at the shooting from the third person, the 32 people Cho killed (not to mention the additional victims he wounded) would have been better off ganging up on him. He would have killed a few, no doubt, but it would have been a much smaller-scale tragedy.
But look at it from the standpoint of any one victim: If other people rush the shooter, you're better off letting them do the dirty work and keeping yourself out of harm's way. If no one else does, your bravery will likely get you killed -- an armed person trumps an unarmed one, and the odds of other people joining you are low for the very reason you'd hang back if they rushed. Not to mention the paralyzing effect of fear. So what ends up happening is that no one takes action, which is worst for everyone.
Then again, the whole dynamic changes when one or more of the potential victims is armed.
That got me to thinking about the prisoners' dilemma. Obviously, looking at the shooting from the third person, the 32 people Cho killed (not to mention the additional victims he wounded) would have been better off ganging up on him. He would have killed a few, no doubt, but it would have been a much smaller-scale tragedy.
But look at it from the standpoint of any one victim: If other people rush the shooter, you're better off letting them do the dirty work and keeping yourself out of harm's way. If no one else does, your bravery will likely get you killed -- an armed person trumps an unarmed one, and the odds of other people joining you are low for the very reason you'd hang back if they rushed. Not to mention the paralyzing effect of fear. So what ends up happening is that no one takes action, which is worst for everyone.
Then again, the whole dynamic changes when one or more of the potential victims is armed.
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