This kind of thinking comes from the belief that everything is a zero sum game.
A zero sum game is one where the total of the winnings equals the total of the losings. So if one team wins by a score of 7 to 5, the other team loses by a score of 5 to 7. Or like a poker game where each of three players starts with $50. At the end of the night they walk away with a total of $150 in their pockets – it just might be distributed differently.
So in order for another person to gain something, I MUST lose something. If I want a slice of pizza and I don’t have one, the only way I can get one is to steal one of yours. The concept of a bigger pie doesn’t exist.
Positive sum games do exist where the winnings are greater than the losses. I raise grain, you raise mules. You lend me a mule to plow my field, I give you grain to feed your mules.
However as long as people have a binary outlook on life: one, zero; black, white; win, lose. They don’t see this possibility.
So we live in a world where people are so paranoid of losing, we wind up playing negative sum games: the sum of the losings is greater than the sum of the winnings.
War is an example of a negative sum game. Nobody wins a war; one side loses it to a lesser extent.
This kind of thinking comes from the belief that everything is a zero sum game.
A zero sum game is one where the total of the winnings equals the total of the losings. So if one team wins by a score of 7 to 5, the other team loses by a score of 5 to 7. Or like a poker game where each of three players starts with $50. At the end of the night they walk away with a total of $150 in their pockets – it just might be distributed differently.
So in order for another person to gain something, I MUST lose something. If I want a slice of pizza and I don’t have one, the only way I can get one is to steal one of yours. The concept of a bigger pie doesn’t exist.
Positive sum games do exist where the winnings are greater than the losses. I raise grain, you raise mules. You lend me a mule to plow my field, I give you grain to feed your mules.
However as long as people have a binary outlook on life: one, zero; black, white; win, lose. They don’t see this possibility.
So we live in a world where people are so paranoid of losing, we wind up playing negative sum games: the sum of the losings is greater than the sum of the winnings.
War is an example of a negative sum game. Nobody wins a war; one side loses it to a lesser extent.