Cultural deviation does not return us to the past, but continues what was begun and not finished in the past. Societal convention, on the other hand, requires that a completed past be repeated in the future. Society has all the seriousness of immortal necessity; culture resounds with the laughter of unexpected possibility. Society is abstract, culture concrete. — James P. Carse, Finite and Infinite Games
Cultural deviation does not return us to the past, but continues what was begun and not finished in the past. Societal convention, on the other hand, requires that a completed past be repeated in the future. Society has all the seriousness of immortal necessity; culture resounds with the laughter of unexpected possibility. Society is abstract, culture concrete.
— James P. Carse, Finite and Infinite Games
Saved by Alex Dobrenko
Culture, on the other hand, is an infinite game. Culture has no boundaries. Anyone can be a participant in a culture—anywhere and at any time.
progress is merely a construct; there are other ways to conceptualize history. The ancient Greeks did not subscribe to the idea of progress: on the contrary, they looked backward toward a golden age that blazed more brightly with thepassing centuries. The sudden realization that upward progress is but a myth can be jolting, as it was for Pat, and e
... See moreA finite game, where the goal is to win, can easily become a serious, grave affair, devoid of fun and levity. An infinite game, where the goal is nothing more—or less—than to continue to play, lends itself to sincerity. Confusing an infinite game for a finite game can be a subtle source of suffering in life.
A finite player is trained not only to anticipate every future possibility, but to control the future, to prevent it from altering the past. This is the finite player in the mode of seriousness with its dread of unpredictable consequence. Infinite players, on the other hand, continue their play in the expectation of being surprised. If surprise is
... See morefinite game is played for the purpose of winning,” Carse wrote, “an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.”