The Game Theory Narrative and the Myth of the National Security State
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3035366 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Steven Belletto (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 333-357 |
| Publication date | 2009-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0678 • E-ISSN: 1080-6490 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/aq.0.0074 |
| OpenAlex | W2021767350 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 14 |
This essay explores what the author terms the "game theory narrative," a cultural narrative that gained prominence in American culture in the early years of the Cold War. For many Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s, game theory was a way for scientists, in collusion with the US government, to prevent nuclear exchange by conceptualizing the Cold War as a game, and by playing this game according to specific rational strategies. The first part of the essay describes how the game theory narrative popularized the idea that the rationality of pure mathematics could be applied to manage some major threats of the Cold War-the menace of an unknown enemy and the specter of an accidental nuclear exchange. The following sections explore how this narrative was both exemplified and criticized by a variety of creative works and other artifacts of Cold War culture
Adversary · Aesthetics · Art · Cold war · Collusion · Computer security · Economics · Epistemology · Game theory · Government (linguistics · Linguistics · Literature · Mathematical economics · Metagaming · Mythology · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Rationality · Repeated game · Simultaneous game · Sociology · State (computer science · Computer Science · Game Theory and Applications · History · Intelligence, Security, War Strategy · Law · Philosophy
The Worlds of Herman Kahn
Games and Decisions
Game Theory and Ellison's King of the Bingo Game
Cold War Orientalism
On Thermonuclear War
The Metafictional Muse
Communists, Cowboys, and Queers
Some Observations on Political Gaming
The Rand Corporation
Creating a Context for Game Theory
The Name of the Game
The Culture of the Cold War
Toward a History of Game Theory
Biblical Games
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,1 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2016 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |