BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

GAME (Positive Sum) 1)2)4)

← Back

A game which produces net gains for one of the players

Truly, any game, when considered globally in time, should be considered a zero-sum game: The gains of some players are the losses of other players.

However, a somewhat viciated concept of so-called positive-sum games has crept within the minds of numerous people, specially in economics.

Interestingly, G, BATESON observes: "A social system is, as von NEUMANN and MORGENSTERN point out, comparable to a non-zero sum game in which one or more coalitions of people play each other and against nature, The non-zero sum characteristic is based on the fact that value is continually extracted from the natural environment" (1973, p.94)… which, in contradiction with general popular belief, but in accord with the 2d principle of thermodynamics, is not an inexhaustible treasure chest.

Only by global recycling, using available permanently renewable sources of energy, could this game be maintained. If this is not taken care of, the future generations could face a dire "negative-sum game".

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

We thank the following partners for making the open access of this volume possible:

© 2020 BCSSS Contact/Imprint