Unknowability: Implications of Darwinian Preadaptions for Economic Growth and Policy
Yesterday we had a very interesting talk at the Kenendy School of Government. Stuart A. Kauffman, a professor emeritus from the at the Santa Fe Institute, presented the results of his life long research on economic growth.He argues that Darwinian preadaptations are the results of recombination processes. In other words, two functions compare result into a third function, which has not been known before. As an example from my research in the US ski industry. The Norwegians developed skis to improve their hunting capabilities during winter-time. The function of a ski was thus to move during winter. Today, a new skiing movement emerges: newschool skiing. The skiers use their skis to slide down rails and stairs. This new function is a combination of skiing in the Norwegian sense and the function of rails or stairs. However, although newschool skiing does exist today, we did foresee it a couple of years ago.
In consequence, it is one the one hand very difficult to predict or foresee the future, because nobody can really foresee what a next Darwinian preadaptation might be. On the other hand, it leaves a huge space for economic growth, technological innovation, and societal development, because new functions emerge as the recombination of existing functions (see the work of Schumpeter on Creative Destruction).
These findings also have important implications for our daily life. By looking at the Rotary Foundation for instance, we might have to ask ourselves how we can use the existing Rotray resources and functions in order to create new ideas, new projects, and generate impetus for Rotary's contribution to the world in the 21st century.
A spontaneous ideas might for instance be to take the established global network of our Rotary Foundation and couple it with the fresh ideas and drive-for-action of the young Rotarians. This might become a powerful melange, which on the one hand benefits from Rotary's rich resources and which on the other turns Rotary into a strong and powerful social enterprise social enterprise.
For more information on Stuart A. Kauffman's talk on Darwinian preadaptations, please visit our research centers website.
posted by Thomas Langenberg @ 8:35 PM
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