12/22 AN INTRODUCTION TO CYBERNETICS 



correspond with those used by von Neumann in his Chapter 2, 

 which should be consuhed ; his 7"s do not correspond to the usage 

 in this book.) 



There is a machine M with input. Its internal structure (its 

 transformations) is known to the players, T,-. It has three types of 

 input: r, V, and T. A parameter F, a switch perhaps, determines 

 which structure it shall have, i.e. which game is to be played. Other 

 inputs K,- allow random moves to be made (e.g. effects from a 

 roulette wheel or pack of shuffled cards to be injected; cf. S. 12/15). 

 Each player, T,-, is a determinate dynamic system, coupled to M 



34r 



Fig. 12/22/1 



both ways. He receives information from M by specified channels 

 /,• and then acts determinately on M. The site of connexion of the 

 /'s is defined by F. Effects from each T, together with those of the 

 other r's and the F's, exert, through M, complex controls over the 

 dials G. When the play, i.e. trajectory, is completed, the umpire 

 ^ reads the G's and then makes corresponding payments to the 



r's. 



What we have here is evidently the case of several regulators, each 

 trying to achieve a goal in G, working simultaneously, and interacting 

 competitively within M. (The possibility of competition between 

 regulators has not been considered explicitly in these chapters till 

 now.) 



If the system is ultrastable, each T's behaviour will be determined 

 by parameters, behaving as step-functions. If a particular player is 

 "satisfied" by the payment from ^6, his parameters will retain their 



242 



