> I think there are some useful analogies from nature, if we really
> understand both how they work and how they have to be adjusted to apply to
> human and/or social situations. Much of our misunderstanding about
> competition comes from an inadequate understanding on the part of 19th
> century economists of how the Darwinian processes actually work. Nature
> isn't "red in tooth and claw": competition between hyenas and lions,
> gazelles and gnus is a very minor phenomenon. The key to their survival is
> that they have each found niches where they don't have to compete with
> each other. Gazelles prefer different kinds of grasses to gnus and
> certainly don't pick the landscape clean. Similarly, the lion and the
> hyena each play distinctive roles on the savannah and are not ruthless
> killers (See my previous post on this thread).
Yes, I enjoyed your post. I also agree that some useful analogies may
exist, but you have to be very careful with them; as you say, one must
really understand both how they work and how they have to be adjusted to
apply to human and/or social situations. I'd really only trust them
coming from one who's well versed in ecology and ethology as well as the
human/social interactions being analogized (which lets me out, BTW).
Regards,
--Don Dwiggins "All models are false, SEI Information Technology but some are useful" d.l.dwiggins@computer.org -- George Box, "Statistics for Experiments"
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>