The tragedy of the commons and prisoner's dilemma may improve our realization of the theory of life and provide us with advanced therapeutic ways

Maintenance of cooperative traits is a critical question in evolutionary theory, especially when the social dilemma, generated by the interface between cooperators and cheaters, is invoked. Since the 1960s, a large body of literature has focused on this topic and suggested various solutions. However, despite the great effort of evolutionary biologists, the arguments advanced are only partial and never seem to offer a conclusive answer. Nevertheless, it seems that the only generalizable solution is ‘consciousintervention’ as illustrated in the article. The findings implied by the following theoretical analysis have important therapeutic applications. They also represent a promising direction for future studies on invasive engineered ‘cheaters’ having plasmids carrying self-interested traits invading biofilms of pathogenic bacteria ‘cooperators’. In fact, this perspective approach can be extended to the treatment of viral diseases and cancer