Roger A. McCain on the implications of the Prisoner's Dilemma

"This remarkable result [derived from the Prisoner's Dilemma thought experiment] -- that individually rational action results in both persons being made worse off in terms of their own self-interested purposes -- is what has made the wide impact in modern social science. For there are many interactions in the modern world that seem very much like that, from arms races through road congestion and pollution to the depletion of fisheries and the overexploitation of some subsurface water resources. These are all quite different interactions in detail, but are interactions in which (we suppose) individually rational action leads to inferior results for each person, and the Prisoners' Dilemma suggests something of what is going on in each of them. That is the source of its power." -- Roger A. McCain

Speaking of which, did you guys catch the game theoretic scenario in The Dark Knight? What do you believe should have been the correct course of action for a decision maker in that situation?