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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. During von Neumann's time on the Princeton social scene, he attended numerous parties and his drink of choice was what?

2. According to Chapter 3, von Neumann concerned himself with what type of games, where in order for one person to gain, another person must lose?

3. In Chapter 6 one of von Neumann's RAND colleagues in the 1950s was mentioned as whom?

4. Game theory, according to details in Chapter 3, is a ____ of conflict.

5. What was the first name of von Neumann's second wife?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where is von Neumann from and why was he considered a child prodigy?

2. When was the Cold War and who was involved?

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

4. What are zero-sum games?

5. Who are Mariette, Marianna, and Klara?

6. Who helped Flood conduct his 100 prisoner's dilemmas experiments?

7. Why was von Neumann considered the "best brain in the world?"

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

9. What is prisoner's dilemma?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

How did each of these people figure in the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union: Harold Urey, Klaus Fuchs, Douglas MacArthur, and Francis Matthews?

Essay Topic 3

In 1971 Martin Shubik published the dollar auction in a 1971 paper and is generally credited as the inventor of this game. What was involved in a game called "so long sucker?" Who collaborated on this game and how did it lead to the development of the dollar auction? How does Shubik describe a dollar auction and what makes it different from an auction at Sotheby's? What applications did the dollar auction have to real life and how did the dollar auction embody the non-rational behavior that many expected in game theory games as part of the logic of escalation in conflict?

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