The above statement seems valid if looking at this through the prisoner’s dilemma and assuming that the people participating do not know the strategy. But what happens if they do know the best strategy for winning? Isn’t the point of being nice the ultimate goal and not winning?
My problem are not with the findings, instead with the saying itself.
The adage, ‘nice guys finish second or last’, In my opinion really shouldn’t matter because whether you lose or win, your main goal was to be nice. True altruism should never be able to associate itself with any kind of strategy for self gain at any point during of after the action itself. It defeats the purpose and the meaning.
kamakawida 