Transportation in a Climate-Constrained World by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science, Environmental Science, Technology & Engineering, Environmental, Pollution Control
ISBN: 9780262012676
Google: hzg9cV9esvYC
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 2009-07-15T00:32:30.930013+00:00

Chess: A Game? A Human Problem

Chess is a game—that is, an activity to pass some free time. Its possible origins (discussed earlier) are based in its use as a medium for dialogue with the gods in ancient China, and little by little, its function in divination gave way to secular entertainment. Behind the notion of games there is a richer world that goes beyond simple pastimes. The history of the development of ludic activities in some ways is the history of civilizations. When men and women have daily interactions and common spaces are generated, activities are needed to strengthen relations among people. Actions that are vital for relating to the world also need to be practiced so that when the moment arrives to carry them out with all the consequences of real life, we are familiar with them and can react appropriately. This fascinating aspect of games generally and of chess in particular falls under the umbrella of theories of the mind. This field postulates that human consciousness evolved from a social reality in which each individual must respond to his or her own desires and the expectations of others (see the discussion of social games and chess as a metametaphor at the end of this book).

Sexual games in childhood and early adolescence are a clear example of a social game that is a preparatory activity for the moment of reproduction. Physical competitions are held in running, hunting, and swimming (activities that were fundamental to human survival in primitive societies), and board games modeled battles between two enemy armies. All these ludic activities have served the essential functions of channeling and releasing physical and psychic energies.

As a human activity, games have been subjected to scientific analysis, abstraction, and modeling. In 1944, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by Oskar Morgenstern and John von Neumann opened a new chapter in the understanding of activities in which various individuals with opposing objectives interact. Morgenstern and Von Neumann’s title focused on economic systems as a game in which each institution has its own objectives that in many cases directly oppose another institution’s objectives. Game theory has been applied to politics, business, industrial organization, military theory, evolutionary biology, and sociology.

Game theory postulates rational behavior for each participant. Each player is conscious of the rules and behaves in accordance with them, each player has sufficient knowledge of the situation in which he or she is involved to be able to evaluate what the best option is when it comes to taking action (a move), and each player takes into account the decisions that might be made by other participants and their repercussions with respect to his or her own decision. Game theory about zero-sum games with two participants is relevant for chess. In this type of situation, each action that is favorable to one participant (player) is proportionally unfavorable for the opponent. Thus, the gain of one represents the loss of the other.

Game theory proposes a method called minimization-maximization (minimax) that determines the best possibility

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