Mike Christensen - Finite and Infinite games

Within his book, Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse sets up an interesting view of the purpose of society. In this view all human interaction is a series of games. Football, basketball, and other sports are evident examples, but they are just the obvious versions. To Carse, even the business relations within a corporation, or the struggle of a car salesman to get the most suckers, are games. People play these games against each other, setting up goals, rules, and boundaries in and effort to make the game finite. The winner triumphs over the loser, and thus gains a title which serves as a part of his identity from then on. To Carse, a person's social identity is composed of the titles they have won, and these are how or she shall be judged.
Although the idea seems to skip over the obvious fact that people have more complex needs than simple victory over another, the theory provides an illuminating outlook on human interaction. People do seem to define themselves through their battles. We speak of cancer survivors as having "beaten cancer" and our wars are judged by the power of the enemies. Humans do seem to feel the need to be the best, and thus to fight the best. The themes of generations before us were filled with allusions to man's battle with nature. Now man has triumphed over nature, and it needs a new adversary. Since there is no better opponent than man himself, the human race divides and individuals compete against each other. Is our dominance over the world so complete that we have no greater adversary than mankind itself? What other forces are still so powerful that mankind can name them as a worthy adversary?