The Art Of Thinking In Systems: Improve Your Logic, Think More Critically, And Use Proven Systems To Solve Your Problems Strategic Planning For Everyday Life pdfdrive com

Chapter 9: Why Do the Rich Get Richer?
If you are anything close to being an average human being on the planet, the
question of “Why do the rich get richer?” has undoubtedly crossed your mind on
more than one occasion. This chapter will dive into this age-old question and see
if we can find some answers to satisfy our curiosity.
Those who are financially well-off often use the wealth and privilege that they
have to get insider information, special or additional knowledge which in turn
helps them to generate more of that money, privilege, and closed-group
information for themselves. Competitive exclusion is a system trap. What
happens when someone wins a competition? He or she gets a reward. This
reward — monetary, equipment, granted access — gives our winner the ability
to compete even better or easier next time. This forms a reinforcing feedback
loop, which increases the likelihood that the winners will keep winning and the
losers will keep losing.
How does Monopoly — the board game — evolve? Each player begins the game
on a level playing field, but as soon as a player begins to accumulate properties
on the game board, all of that changes. When a player has control of a property,
they can start to build hotels and charge the other players rent when they land on
their properties. That player can then take the money they receive from the other
players and use it to buy more properties and put more hotels on the game board.
This makes it next to impossible for the other players to catch up, and greatly
increases the likelihood that the hotel-owning player will win the game.
Now consider college football teams in the United States. There is a playoff
system which determines the national champion each year. The final four teams

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play against each other in the playoff. For the past few years, it seems there is
becoming a sort of dynasty established by a few teams as the same 2-3 teams
have been consistently playing in the playoff. As college football teams begin
winning games, they are given a reward of more access to television time. This
increased time on television allows them to increase their fan bases, bring more
revenue into their programs, and attract more recruits to their teams. As the
teams are more visible, they can generate more money through ticket sales and
booster donations. This allows them to hire the best coaches and build the best
facilities at their schools. All of these things in turn entice the best players to join
their football programs, which increases the likelihood that they will continue to
win and be successful. The reinforcing feedback loop has now become created
and entrenched in their systems.
We also see this at play in nature. The competitive exclusion principle tells us
that it is impossible to have two different species living in exactly the same
ecological niche, competing with one another for exactly the same food and
resources. When two species are different, one of the species will either be able
to reproduce faster or be more effective in using resources than the other species.
This will serve to give that species an advantage over the other one as it will
begin to increase its population and continue to be dominant over the other
species. The dominant species does not need to fight the other species. By using
up all of the available resources, it means there are none left for the weaker
competitor. This will force that species to either move away, adapt by using
different resources, or become extinct.
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