No-win situation

In general use, a no-win situation is one where a person has choices, but no choice leads to success. If an executioner offers the condemned the choice of dying by being hanged, shot, or poisoned, since all choices lead to death, the condemned is in a no-win situation. Less drastic situations might also be considered no-win situations: if I have a choice for lunch between a ham on rye sandwich and a roast beef sandwich on a roll, and I don't like rye bread or roast beef, that might be considered a no-win situation, even if it's possible I could talk the server into putting the ham into a roll.

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A no-win situation, as defined in game theory, is a situation where no one wins (benefits in some way), and often where both sides (or whoever is included in the situation or affected by it) lose (are affected negatively in some way).

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This is a common situation, usually due to:

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• unavoidable or unforeseeable circumstances causing the situation to change after decisions have been made
• Zugzwang, as in chess, when any move chosen will leave one worse off than before they moved.
• a situation where no winning options exist in the first place (a catch-22)
• a wrong evaluation of the situation
• the best decision for individuals leading to a suboptimal result for everyone involved (as in the "Prisoner's Dilemma")

Some cognitive biases such as anchoring and framing, or emotional biases, such as greed, fear, and herding, are reasons why people create no-win situations which may be potentially avoidable.

Related Topics:
Cognitive bias - Anchoring - Framing - Emotional bias - Herding

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Carl von Clausewitz's advice never to launch a war that one has not already won characterizes war as a likely no-win situation. An example of war as a no win situation is the Pyrrhic victory, in which a military victory is too costly to actually be a real "win". (Looking at the victory as a part of a larger situation, the situation could either be no-win or a win for the other side than the one that won the "victory".)

Related Topics:
Carl von Clausewitz - Pyrrhic victory

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In fiction, a no-win situation has become part of the Star Trek mythos in the Kobayashi Maru scenario.

Related Topics:
Star Trek - Kobayashi Maru

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No-win situation: See also ►