STRATAGEM: a suppressive game

As unfortunately not to be expected otherwise, a game to completely ignore all of today's opportunities to advance a developing country. A training in wrong concepts.

The announcement

STRATAGEM | Simulation for sustainable development | AAI Salzburg

developed with Dennis Meadows (Club of Rome) strategic business game "Stratagem" simulates the (sustainable) development in an emerging country. The multidisciplinary and dimensional theme of sustainable development can thus be made tangible through direct experience. Location: AAI Salzburg, Philharmonikergasse 2, 10 am - 6 pm. Participants can gain insights into the relevant problems and connections, make their own decisions and experience the consequences of their actions, using a realistic and complex scenario. As a result, scope for action and different fields of actors are modeled and the respectively dominating compulsions to act, interests and resistances can be experienced.

The beginning

On December 15, 2017 at 10:00 in the premises of the AAI were at 2 tables so gathered 13 participants, great surprise, on each table was a kind of board game, which reminded of a slightly larger Monopoli. Next game idea and rules were explained. The decisions of the government of a developing country are simulated over 50 years. The participants at each table should play 5 ministers and make decisions.

When I asked questions about the options for making decisions, it quickly became clear that this is not about sustainable development, but about conditioning the participants that sustainable development is not possible.

Where is the country?

No answer was given, although the geographical situation has a decisive influence. But the high birth rate made it clear: it is an African country. In South America and Asia, the birth rates have fallen significantly, only Africa is there a regrettable exception.

No control of energy

Where can I set different import tariffs for fossil energy and renewable energy production in this game? Nowhere! There is no design opportunity for the energy sector in this game.

different import duties
different taxes
State microcredit for certain products
Purchase promotion for specific products
Vehicle Registration Regulations - in China, two-wheel combustion vehicles are not eligible for registration in all major cities.

Everything you can do in the game: a budget to build a central power plant. But this is only after 2 government periods to 5 years, so finished 2 plays. Australia has just received a 100 MWh storage power plant from Tesla within 100 days.

To build central fossil power plants in a sunny developing country is criminal stupidity. Central fossil power plants have a lot of disadvantages:

The electricity is too expensive
The necessary distribution network is too expensive
The investment comes only after many years to bear.

But you immediately need electricity for education. OLPC or other cheap computer. Since it is not to wait until the central power plant is finished, the line is laid to the village. Incidentally, too damn expensive. The medium-voltage line to the village, the medium-voltage transformer, which costs hundreds of thousands of euros, where decentralized solar systems are orders of magnitude cheaper.

There is no energy price development in this 20 year old game. The price of photovoltaic has fallen over 90% during this time. For oil is much more expensive than 20 years ago. Everything is negated in this game. Why? Because Dennis Meadows negated the possibilities of renewable energy as early as 1972, when he wrote the bible of the doomsday sect "Limits of Growth". Only from this negation of renewable energy could pseudo-scientific outgrowths arise like the "post-growth economy".

Post-growth economics and a new Record Lowest Price for Feeding Solar Power in Saudi Arabia at US $ 0.0179? Absolutely not fit together, can only be explained with a firm unwavering faith.

The reaction of the participants

Is the game and its rules realistic? That's probably the first thing to question in every game. But the rest of the participants were not ready for that and probably indoctrinated for 8 hours with this systematic denial of renewable energy and all its benefits.

Politics - political targets of PEGE
	Nonpolitical, pragmatic, on the other side of ideologies counts in our politic only one target: A long time lasting civilization able to develop further on a stable base.

Philosophy
	Long-term planning and stability have to be the guiding rules of politics. A philosophy based on the mathematic branch of games theory.

Living standard
	What is living standard? How is living standard correctly measured? Is it possible, that our living standard declines drastic, while uncorrect numbers want to make us belive it's like paradise?

Taxes tax politics
	The consequences of the tax politic for humans and environment. The politicians claim to fight for humans and the environment, but the tax politics shows the exact opposit.

Energy politic
	Decades of wrong energy politic. Instead of more living standard with less energy usage, partial the contrary was reached. A result of the wrong tax politic.

Black Friday: US attack on Syria
	Is it possible to make a professing climatic change denier reason? No, Donald Trump shows that irresponsible handling of facts is a standard for him.

The 5th term of George W. Bush
	Sometime in 2009, I wondered where is the difference between Barack Obama and George W. Bush. On April 7, 2017: Where is the difference between George W. Bush and Donald Trump?

Donald Trump's speech to the United Nations
	What does dictator rocket man worry about the total destruction of North Korea? Nothing, because if he were concerned about the population, he would have already resigned.

US military budget US$ 700 billion
	What could begin with totally superfluous US$ 600 billion military expenditures reasonable? This shows what a crime against humanity this budget is.

Trust and government
	A government system can only act efficiently and bring about great change if it enjoys the confidence of the population.