Zero-Sum

Zero-sum is a false belief: the belief that the gain of one agent must be the loss of a different agent. Zero-sum thought ignores how voluntary trade makes value for both sides. Zero-sum thought feeds coercion, because if you cannot win unless a different person loses, force becomes "legitimate". It also makes persons blind to how free exchange, innovation, and cooperation grow the total, and make all persons better without victims. Zero-sum contradicts infinite change, where new patterns and possibilities emerge constantly. Societies in the trap of zero-sum models go to theft and control, not to production and trade. They think that redistribution makes new value. Logic shows the truth: if both sides consent to a trade, both sides get value by their own measure. Thus wealth is not a set quantity. Zero-sum is the mental error that supports socialism, tyranny, and war.