I remember exactly where I was when I first heard the term Zero-Sum game. It was Dr. Palmer’s class in Analog Computing. Our lab had to configure multiple operational amplifiers to create a scaled amplifier where one input was the signal to be amplified, and the other input was the amplification multiplier; 2x, 3x, etc. However, my configuration was such that the inputs subtracted from one another. Dr. Palmer stated, “That’s a Zero-Sum Game, Kawski! I had no idea what he meant, except I had to try again.
Poker is a zero-sum game, of course. Everyone starts with the same, and in the end, everyone but one person loses. The losses equal the wins. For one person to win, another has to lose. Marxist-based political systems ply zero-sum outcomes, while free-market systems create new wealth. The whole concept came from “Game Theory,” developed in the 1940s.
Here is an example of game theory analysis. In two of Plato’s texts, the Laches and the Symposium, Socrates recalls an episode from the Battle of Delium. He posits the following. If the defenses are expected to hold in the battle, then an individual fighter might reason why is he needed in that his contribution will not affect the outcome. Similarly, if the battle was all but lost, there is even less reason to stick around. Of course, it is the honor and discipline that comes with training that keeps fighters on the front lines regardless of the perceived outcome. Otherwise, Jon Snow would have never won the Battle of the Bastards. Warning: gore and violence in this classic clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8G-pMiYBZc
I love tying big-picture perspectives to those we encounter in our struggles for growth. There are those among us who view progress and its resultant achievements and powers as elementally unfavorable when it comes to success and fulfillment. Some folks view advancement as corrupt or corrupting. Of course, as Lord Acton famously said, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But, we are speaking here of the personal power we gain from growth, not conquest.
Some have been left behind and harbor bitter resentment for the success of others. For this, I remind you, compare yourself not to who someone else is today, but who you were yesterday. This simple change in perspective will unleash your potential by allowing you to focus on…YOU!
Decidedly, friends and family are never left by the wayside when we succeed. Moreover, zero-sum personal advancement is not possible. For someone to win, someone does not lose, except perhaps from their own maladjusted perspective.
Although it would not appear so in the photo accompanying this post, the well-outfitted young man has the best fishing hardware in this side-by-side masterpiece from Norman Rockwell, one of my favorites! But he doesn’t know how to create the value of a full stringer of fish. Creating value is the hallmark of free markets. It’s why the middle-class standard of living exceeds that of even kings and queens of yore. People for generations have created value out of whole cloth. As value expands, so does it beget more value until everyone benefits from consuming the goods and services produced from nothing. This is nothing short of miraculous.
If we see others succeed, we must cheer them on and celebrate their accomplishments. Coming from an insecure place, we harbor misguided beliefs that those who succeed are holding us back. We come to resent them and fail to push ourselves because of our inability to see that life is not a Zero-Sum Game.
Be well, dear reader.
