The most commonly played games are described in terms of game-theory as "zero-sum." In other words, the game offers a finite reward and to the extent that one player benefits, the other player or players suffer. The reward may be regarded as a pie: if one person receives a bigger slice, all the others receive smaller.
In the past, human interaction has often been viewed as a zero-sum game. If you get the choicest pieces of a slain beast, I do not. If my tribe gains control of a watering hole, we gain and everyone else loses. Territorial wars on a global scale follow the same format: i
Yet human interaction does not have to be defined this way. Division of labor, for example, can produce a non-zero-sum result, whether it be in agriculture or in manufacturing. Individuals joined in a band can exert greater power than operating alone.
Robert Wright, in his book Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny (New York: Random House, 2000), studies the growth of "non-zero-ness" in human affairs and observes that "as history progresses, human beings find themselves playing non-zero-sum games with more and more other human beings."
The growth of technology contributes to the increase in non-zero-sum interactions. The invention of printing and the resulting dissemination of ideas greatly expanded the compass of an individual world-view. Improvements in transportation during the industrial revolution made possible commerce on a much broader scale. Today globalization has been accepted as a fact of life in every realm. "Improvement in the transport and processing of matter; improvement in the transport and processing of energy; improvement in the transport and processing of information: all foster the growth of non-zero-sumness."
The increasing complexity that characterizes human interaction can also be seen as a fundamental principle of biological evolution. When we look at the chain of life from the single-celled amoeba or paramecium to the simplest plant and animal forms to the primates we observe a constant increase in complexity.
Wright dares to pose the question of a purpose behind evolution and offers the tentative conclusion that "a strictly empirical analysis of both organic and cultural evolution reveals a world with direction-a direction suggestive of purpose, even (faintly) suggestive of benign purpose."
A simple view of human strife in today's world would portray it as a zero-sum game: either the rebels win or the dictatorship wins; every vote cast for one party in an election is a vote not received by the opposing party. Yet a larger perspective, taking in the entire history of human evolution, suggests an increase in non-zero-sumness and a resulting betterment of the human condition.
Arthur Wenk, a psychotherapist practicing in Oakville, Ontario, combines cognitive-behavioral therapy (discovering techniques for producing immediate changes) with a psychodynamic approach that helps make changes permanent by addressing the root causes of mental health problems. Art is certified by OACCPP (the Ontario organization for psychotherapists) and EMDRIA (the EMDR International Association). Art's website, http://www.arthurwenk.com/, contains copies of the Wilson Counselling Associates newsletter, which deals with some of the topics that most commonly arise in psychotherapy.
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