"At present game theory has, in my opinion, two important uses, neither of them related to games nor to conflict directly. First, game theory stimulates us to think about conflict in a novel way. Second, game theory leads to some genuine impasses, that is, to situations where its axiomatic base is shown to be insufficient for dealing even theoretically with certain types of conflict situations... Thus, the impact is made on our thinking process themselves, rather than on the actual content of our knowledge." (Anatol Rapoport, Fights, games, and debates", 1960)
"It is the shortcomings of game theory" (as originally formulated) which force the consideration of the role of ethics, of the dynamics of social structure, and of social structure and of individual psychology in situations of conflict." (Anatol Rapoport, "Fights, games, and debates", 1960)
"A thorough understanding of game theory, should dim these greedy hopes. Knowledge of game theory does not make one a better card player, businessman or military strategist." (Anatol Rapoport, "The Use and Misuse of Game Theory," 1962)
"Although the drama of games of strategy is strongly linked with the psychological aspects of the conflict, game theory is not concerned with these aspects. Game theory, so to speak, plays the board. It is concerned only with the logical aspects of strategy." (Anatol Rapoport, "The Use and Misuse of Game Theory", 1962)
"Game theory applies to a very different type of conflict, now technically called a game. The well-known games such as poker, chess, ticktacktoe and so forth are games in the strict technical Bark and counterbark sense. But what makes parlor games is not their entertainment value or detachment from real life." (Anatol Rapoport, "The Use and Misuse of Game Theory", Scientific American 207, 1962)
"Whether game theory leads to clear-cut solutions, to vague solutions, or to impasses, it does achieve one thing. In bringing techniques of logical and mathematical analysis gives men an opportunity to bring conflicts up from the level of fights, where the intellect is beclouded by passions, to the level of games, where the intellect has a chance to operate." (Anatol Rapoport, "The Use and Misuse of Game Theory", Scientific American 207, 1962)
"The modern era has uncovered for combinatorics a wide range of fascinating new problems. These have arisen in abstract algebra, topology, the foundations of mathematics, graph theory, game theory, linear programming, and in many other areas. Combinatorics has always been diversified. During our day this diversification has increased manifold. Nor are its many and varied problems successfully attacked in terms of a unified theory. Much of what we have said up to now applies with equal force to the theory of numbers. In fact, combinatorics and number theory are sister disciplines. They share a certain intersection of common knowledge, and each genuinely enriches the other." (Herbert J Ryser, "Combinatorial Mathematics", 1963)
"Engineering is the art of skillful approximation; the practice of gamesmanship in the highest form. In the end it is a method broad enough to tame the unknown, a means of combing disciplined judgment with intuition, courage with responsibility, and scientific competence within the practical aspects of time, of cost, and of talent. This is the exciting view of modern-day engineering that a vigorous profession can insist be the theme for education and training of its youth. It is an outlook that generates its strength and its grandeur not in the discovery of facts but in their application; not in receiving, but in giving. It is an outlook that requires many tools of science and the ability to manipulate them intelligently In the end, it is a welding of theory and practice to build an early, strong, and useful result. Except as a valuable discipline of the mind, a formal education in technology is sterile until it is applied." (Ronald B Smith, "Professional Responsibility of Engineering", Mechanical Engineering Vol. 86 (1), 1964)
"Imagine that [...] the world is something like a great chess game being played by the gods, and we are observers of the game. [...] If we watch long enough, we may eventually catch on to a few of the rules [...]. However, we might not be able to understand why a particular move is made in the game, merely because it is too complicated and our minds are limited [...]. We must limit ourselves to the more basic question of the rules of the game. If we know the rules, we consider that we 'understand' the world." (Richard P. Feynman, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics", 1964)
"[Game theory is] essentially a structural theory. It uncovers the logical structure of a great variety of conflict situations and describes this structure in mathematical terms. Sometimes the logical structure of a conflict situation admits rational decisions; sometimes it does not." (Anatol Rapoport, "Prisoner's dilemma: A study in conflict and cooperation", 1965)
"A problem will be difficult if there are no procedures for generating possible solutions that are guaranteed (or at least likely) to generate the actual solution rather early in the game. But for such a procedure to exist, there must be some kind of structural relation, at least approximate, between the possible solutions as named by the solution-generating process and these same solutions as named in the language of the problem statement." (Herbert A Simon, "The Logic of Heuristic Decision Making", [in "The Logic of Decision and Action"], 1966)
"Now we are looking for another basic outlook on the world - the world as organization. Such a conception - if it can be substantiated - would indeed change the basic categories upon which scientific thought rests, and profoundly influence practical attitudes. This trend is marked by the emergence of a bundle of new disciplines such as cybernetics, information theory, general system theory, theories of games, of decisions, of queuing and others; in practical applications, systems analysis, systems engineering, operations research, etc. They are different in basic assumptions, mathematical techniques and aims, and they are often unsatisfactory and sometimes contradictory. They agree, however, in being concerned, in one way or another, with ‘systems’, ‘wholes’ or ‘organizations’; and in their totality, they herald a new approach." (Ludwig von Bertalanffy, "General System Theory", 1968)
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