tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post4119736971948306785..comments2023-09-06T07:13:58.715-07:00Comments on PLEKTIX: The Evolution of Bad IdeasBen Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15594823641514744644noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post-91845159820702850152009-08-13T15:55:45.839-07:002009-08-13T15:55:45.839-07:00sooo..... do you think humans are species A?sooo..... do you think humans are species A?Pazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02842799366260973675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post-60592115129511698472009-08-05T23:04:15.389-07:002009-08-05T23:04:15.389-07:00That's true, though if the reverse-engineering...That's true, though if the reverse-engineering goes well, the effect is much the same.Ben Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15594823641514744644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post-71672942142804200782009-08-05T18:33:03.325-07:002009-08-05T18:33:03.325-07:00It is interesting that in the economic model, the ...It is interesting that in the economic model, the units of inheritance spread not just by direct transmission of "genetic" information, but also by reverse engineering of the "phenotype". We do X because we see the Japanese doing X and making money, not because the instructions for doing X were faxed from Tokyo to New York.Blake Staceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13977394981287067289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post-63104235686822168602009-08-05T15:37:43.523-07:002009-08-05T15:37:43.523-07:00Hah! "For want of a better word." Is n...Hah! "For want of a better word." Is not a meme always in want of a better word?<br /><br />In the implied evolutionary model I was herein invoking, the agents are business practices. They reproduce by company expansion and also by imitation. This is of course harder to model than biological evolution, but still an evolutionary process.Ben Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15594823641514744644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post-46107037953500562162009-08-05T13:19:41.219-07:002009-08-05T13:19:41.219-07:00"Our economy is, of course, an evolutionary s..."Our economy is, of course, an evolutionary system. Successful businesses grow in size <b>and their practices are imitated by others</b>; unsuccessful businesses vanish. This process has led to many good business practices, even in the financial sector."<br /><br />This points out, I think, one difficulty with trying to explain economic affairs using evolutionary analogies. To have something like natural selection, we need differential survival of randomly varying replicators, leading to changes in the frequencies of heritable traits in the replicator population. In the business world, what are the replicators? What is the unit of selection, and what is the unit of inheritance? If the market kills off corporations, then perhaps the corporation is the scale at which selection acts; but companies exchange ideas, personnel and other forms of influence, so the unit of <i>inheritance</i> ought to be something smaller-scale and altogether squishier. Like a meme, for want of a better word.Blake Staceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13977394981287067289noreply@blogger.com