Resolving social dilemmas on evolving random networks

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that strategy-independent adaptations of random networks can spontaneously promote cooperation in social dilemmas through mechanisms like group selection and the Red Queen, tunable by a single parameter.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach where random network evolution mechanisms induce cooperation-promoting processes in social dilemmas, adaptable via link addition frequency.

Findings

Cooperation is enhanced through network adaptations.

Mechanisms like group selection and Red Queen emerge spontaneously.

Tuning link addition frequency controls cooperation levels.

Abstract

We show that strategy independent adaptations of random interaction networks can induce powerful mechanisms, ranging from the Red Queen to group selection, that promote cooperation in evolutionary social dilemmas. These two mechanisms emerge spontaneously as dynamical processes due to deletions and additions of links, which are performed whenever players adopt new strategies and after a certain number of game iterations, respectively. The potency of cooperation promotion, as well as the mechanism responsible for it, can thereby be tuned via a single parameter determining the frequency of link additions. We thus demonstrate that coevolving random networks may evoke an appropriate mechanism for each social dilemma, such that cooperation prevails even by highly unfavorable conditions.