01: Modelling the evolution of cooperation
According to Lord Robert May, President of the Royal Society, „the most
important unanswered question in evolutionary biology, and more
generally in the social sciences, is how cooperative behaviour evolved
and can be maintained in groups and societies“. This is the topic of a one-week course given by Peter Hammerstein (Berlin) and Karl
Sigmund (Vienna), two of the leading experts in this field. The lectures
will be extremely interdisciplinary, ranging from evolutionary biology
to experimental economics and using elementary models from mathematical
game theory as well as hands-on computer simulations. In particular,
direct and indirect reciprocity, individual and group selection, the
role of punishment and rewards, voluntary participation and the
emergence of sanctioning institutions will be discussed. The topic is
currently very hot, as can be seen by the number of recent contributions
in mathematical, physical, biological, economic and psychological
journals. It addresses age-old questions studied by philosophers such as
Aristotle, Hobbes, Rousseau, or Hume, but from a very modern angle.
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Dr. Peter HAMMERSTEIN
Professor, Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin
| 1981-1985 | Research Scientist, Department of Biology and Institute of Mathematical Economics, University of Bielefeld |
| 1984-1985 | Visiting Research Scientist, Zoology Department, University of Tennessee Knoxville |
| 1985-1986 | Research Scientist, Department of Economic Theory, University of Bonn |
| 1986-1996 | Research Scientist, Max-Planck-Institute for Animal Behavior Research, Seewiesen, Lecturer in Zoology at the |
| University of Munich (LMU) | |
| since 1996 | Professor in Organismic Evolution, Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt University Berlin |
Dr. Karl SIGMUND
Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Vienna; Senior Research Scholar, IIASA - International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg
| 1968 | PhD in Mathematics, University of Vienna |
| Postdoctoral Studies in Manchester, Paris, Jerusalem and Vienna | |
| 1971 | Habilitation |
| 1973 | Associated Professor, University of Göttingen |
| 1974-2013 | Professor, University of Vienna |
| since 1984 | Affiliated with IIASA - International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg |
