Ten Ways to Think Like an Infinite Player
People who approach life like an infinite game are the key to the shifting global culture and economy. The idea of approaching life as a game sounds startling, as if that means the players aren t real people, or aren t taking life seriously. Quite the opposite, however, is true. But what is an infinite game, and how does it differ from a finite game? Finite games include chess, or traditional wars, or any contest in which opponents understand the rules and agree on a winner and loser. The purpose of play is to arrive at a decisive conclusion about triumph and defeat. An infinite game, on the other hand, is played for one purpose only: to keep the game going. Collaboration as a game is the core idea behind the Imagination Age framework, which I started developing in 2007 and continue to develop now at Science House. I just finished reading a book that could serve in many ways as the prerequisite for participating in the Imagination Age: Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility by James P. Carse. I underlined more of this book than any book I ve ever read. I think it's one of the most important books ever written, and I don't say that lightly. Finite games are the familiar contests of everyday life, from athletic contests to board games to families competing against other families for prestige. They are played in order to be won, Carse notes, which is when they end. Infinite games are far more mysterious because the goal is not to decisively select a winner, but rather to keep everybody in play. The rules, boundaries and participants may change, as long as the game keeps going. Far from being just a book about games, this is a guide for how to approach life. Here are a dozen of the key ideas, which can t possibly illuminate the masterwork created by Carse but serve as a starting point: 1) Infinite players cannot say when their game began, nor do they care. Their game is not bounded by time. Indeed, the only purpose of the game is to keep it from coming to an end, to keep everyone in play. 2) Since each play of an infinite game eliminates boundaries, it opens players to a new horizon of time. Finite players play within boundaries; infinite players play with boundaries. 3) Infinite players regard their wins and losses in whatever finite games they play as but moments within a larger field of continuing play that extends beyond the finite game. 4) The rules of an infinite game must change in the course of play. The rules are changed when the players of an infinite game agree that the play is imperiled by a finite outcome--that is, the victory of some players and the defeat of others. 5) To be playful is not to be trivial or frivolous, to act as though nothing of consequence will happen. On the contrary, when we are playful with each other we relate as free persons, and the relationship is open to surprise; everything that happens is of consequence. 6) What is your future, and mine, becomes ours. We prepare each other for surprise. 7) Infinite players do not oppose the actions of others, but initiate actions of their own in such a way that others will respond by initiating their own. 8) Our social existence has an inescapably fluid character. Society is a finite game. Culture is an infinite game. Where society has boundaries, culture has a horizon. Every move an infinite player makes is toward the horizon. 9) It is apparent to infinite players that wealth is not so much possessed as it is performed. 10) Infinite players are concerned not with power, but vision, and the freedom to change ourselves. 管理新知 您可能感兴趣的文章 图说：这10种管理方式，正在摧毁你的员工 2016-11-16 雷军：创业公司招人与留人的方法 2017-08-14 Recruiters: Be Your Own Therapist 2012-10-23 最近文章 TEST 2018年01月15日 嫖娼被抓不属无故旷工，公司解雇赔4万！（法院判决） 2018年01月15日 如何判断你是否具有HRBP胜任力？
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