So what do the prisoners do—cooperate or defect? On the face of it, they ought to cooperate with each other and keep their mouths shut, because that way they both get the best result: freedom. But then they get to thinking. Prisoner A, being no fool, quickly realizes that there’s no way he can trust his partner not to turn state’s evidence and walk off with a fat reward, leaving him to pay for the privilege of sitting in a jail cell.
