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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What war between the Allied and Axis powers was going on when von Neumann was invited to become part of the Manhattan Project?

2. Who developed the game model now known as a prisoner's dilemma?

3. David Hilbert was a great ____.

4. Who played Kriegspiel as a boy?

5. John von Neumann worked with what company to help design a faster, more compact computer?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Bertrand Russell?

2. What was the Princeton social scene like while von Neumann was at IAS?

3. What did Merrill Flood observe and conclude about his RAND colleagues as they left California at the end of summer?

4. What is a minimax solution and saddle points?

5. What was the RAND Corporation?

6. Besides all his work on the Manhattan Project, von Neumann also found time to help IBM. How did he help this company?

7. How does von Neumann's game theory relate to economics?

8. Why did Bertrand Russell suggest and believe in the merits of preemptive nuclear war?

9. How is Kriegspiel different from Chess or Tic-tac-toe?

10. Why did Russell and von Neumann advocate preventative war during the Cold War?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Kriegspiel and where does it fit in the game theory arena in connection with how and when it was developed? How it was used and by whom? What were some of the social, political and military implications of this game?

Essay Topic 2

Prisoner's Dilemma and Chicken are two social dilemmas of fundamental importance in human affairs. Why? Explain the parameters of each dilemma in relation to real life and then discuss what makes each dilemma so important to human affairs. Also, conclude with which dilemma you feel is the most important of the two in regards to human affairs, and why.

Essay Topic 3

In real life dollar auctions the author writes about how many a justifiable action, in looking back, becomes the first "defection" in an escalating dilemma. How can you penalize the first bidder for not wanting to waste the "ninety-nine cent profit?" In relation to the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union what was the defection? Why was there a defection and how did this dilemma escalate as both sides designed more and more nuclear weapons?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 858 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample