Evolution of cooperation under entrenchment effects

Evolution of cooperation among self-interested agents is revisited in this paper in the context of "globalization" and "localization" and the effects of entrenchment. Entrenchment is found to be of two types - of knowledge and of acquaintance. While entrenched acquaintances are conducive for trust and hence cooperation, entrenched knowledge leads to paucity in novel strategies. Simulation based studies show that disentrenchment in general, and disentrenchment of knowledge in particular, is conducive to the emergence of cooperation.</p