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 (Zero Sum) 1)2)

← Back

"… a game where the amount of 'winnable goods' (or resources in our terminology) is fixed" (F. HEYLIGHEN, 1992, p.4).

Underlying the zero-sum game concept, we find the "bank" problem: resources are limited and this is critical for unlimited competition. In HEYLIGHEN's words: "Whatever is gained by one actor, is therefore lost by the other actor, the sum of gained (positive) and lost (negative) is zero" (Ibid).

On the contrary: "(in) a non-zero sum game all participants can win property from the "bank". In principle, in monopoly, two players could reach an agreement and help each other in gathering a maximum amount from the "bank" (Ibid).

One of the most serious problem of our time is the general implicit assumption – or better said, conviction – that our planetary bank is inexhaustible.

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