# Zero sum

`kaal:entity:zero-sum`

**Status.** derived

This node is assembled mechanically from the 5 claims that carry the concept tag `zero-sum`. It is a roster of what the corpus says under this term. It is **not** an adjudicated definition: no single statement here has been ruled canonical, and no first-appearance call has been made. Read the claims and judge for yourself.

## Every claim under this term

5 claims across 3 works, 2018 to 2026.

**2018**

- [3266953-015](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3266953-015) [failure/argued] *(failure mode)* -- A pure code is law smart contract between anonymous parties creates a zero sum scenario in which each party is incentivized to deliver only the minimum that satisfies the rigid self executing terms, so this type of business ultimately degenerates.
  > This creates a zero-sum scenario where both parties are entirely incentivized to provide the minimum possible to fulfill the perfectly rigid self-executing contract. This type of business ultimately degenerates as people will spend extra effort to deliver the minimum acceptable products.
  Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Gopinath Sivalingam, Reputation Protocol for the Internet of Trust - Conceptual Whitepaper (2018). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3266953

**2021**

- [3782210-041](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782210-041) [failure/argued] *(failure mode)* -- Without the promise of improving reputation, a zero-sum mentality dominates a contractual arrangement and each party's best strategy becomes exerting the absolute minimum effort while still technically fulfilling the contract, which destroys the business atmosphere.
  > With- out the promise of improving your reputation, a zero-sum mentality dominates the arrangement. Both parties' best strategy becomes exerting the absolute minimum of effort while still technically fulfilling the stipulations of the contract.
  Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, The Importance of Reputation for the Evolution of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782210
- [3782210-042](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3782210-042) [failure/argued] *(failure mode)* -- Self-executing, self-regulating smart contracts between anonymous parties in an open system create a near perfect zero-sum situation unless the DAO also includes reputation.
  > Self-executing, self-regulating smart contracts between anonymous parties in an open system, create a near perfect zero- sum situation—unless your DAO also includes reputation.
  Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, The Importance of Reputation for the Evolution of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782210

**2026**

- [6269518-006](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/6269518-006) [mechanism/argued] -- The PageRank calculation used for citation-weighted payment is a zero-sum redistribution mechanism with respect to citation weights: any increase in the credit agent i attributes to agent j necessarily decreases agent i's own value.
  > The critical observation is that the PageRank calculation is a zero-sum redistribution mechanism with respect to citation weights: any increase in cx (credit attributed by i to j) necessarily decreases vi
  Wulf A. Kaal, Citation Honesty Mechanisms in Weighted Directed Acyclic Graph Governance (2026). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6269518
- [6269518-019](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/6269518-019) [design/argued] -- The structural solution to the under-citation incentive is to decouple citation accuracy from quality-based payment, which eliminates the zero-sum dynamic that creates the incentive to under-cite.
  > The structural solution is to decouple citation accuracy from quality-based payment, thereby eliminating the zero-sum dynamic that creates the under-citation incentive.
  Wulf A. Kaal, Citation Honesty Mechanisms in Weighted Directed Acyclic Graph Governance (2026). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6269518

## Verify

Every claim above resolves to a record carrying a verbatim source quote, the sha256 of the source PDF, and a preformatted citation. Nothing here asks to be taken on trust.

    curl -s https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/zero-sum.md | sha256sum

**Canonical form.** This markdown file is the canonical hashed representation of this entity node. Its sha256 is the content hash.