Disruption
Contents
Full Title or Meme
The sudden process in the changing morphology of living entities in a natural ecosystem.
Context
Evolution and Disruption are the ying and yang of the process of change in any ecosystem. In the General Theory of Living Systems the case is made that an identity ecosystem has all of the characteristics of living ecosystems.
Schumpeter first described creative destruction[1] as an essential component of a financial ecosystem. If companies do not learn to cannibalize their own products, then some competitor will come along and do it to them. This is the way that a capitalist economy changes. So too with natural ecosystems. There are two types of disruptions that need to be considered which are distinguished by the event that sets them off:
- Disruption caused by evolutionary pressures within the ecosystem, called endogenous sources in the natural sciences, and
- Disruption caused by pressures exerted from outside the ecosystem, called exogenous sources in the natural sciences.
Brusatte has a couple of great examples in the two disruptions that resulted in the dinosaur morphogenesis into birds.[2] Once dinosaurs developed feathers and a gracile morphology, evolution sped-up and birds rapidly evolved from the new found capabilities. When the Chicxulub asteroid hit Mexico about 66 million years ago, a mass extinction event changed the ecosystem in ways that are unimaginable compared to what we call climate change today. Rapid evolution was again able to create a set of animals that thrived in the new ecosystem, but most of the old life forms did not survive and the ecosystem that resulted was wildly different than that before the extinction event. We should be prepared for both sorts of disruption in the identity ecosystems, but planning for a mass extinction of the old order is probably not helpful and the changes are likely to be unimaginable. With that happy thought in mind, lets consider the sort of disruption that we can plan for, one that may be rapid, but is firmly based in changes that have already occurred, but for which the identity ecosystem is not yet fully accommodated.
Problems
There are a large number of identity disruptions already in process; our problem is to determine which have the sort of robust effect on the identity ecosystem that will survive evolutionary pressures. One thing that evolutionary theory teaches is that most changes will not survive and propagate.
Chaos
Disruption of existing social control mechanism, like laws, customs and morals, may lead to a chaotic regime where social order breaks down.
Privacy
Similarly to the invention of photojournalism that resulted in the Warren and Brandeis paper on privacy[3] the current proliferation of Social Media was created a new assault on our right to be let alone.
Centralization
Punctuated
Solutions
While individuals who are successfully because their are well-adapted to their current status are wary of disruption, those who are not well-adapted look at disruption as a way to change the game in their favor. When disruption comes, the species that are well-adapted to the existing environment typically lose their advantage.
Human Adaption
Thriving in disruption isn't about avoiding challenges—it's about embracing them as opportunities for growth and innovation. In the face of disruption, certain qualities and skills enable individuals to not only survive but thrive. When the music business was threatened by streaming media, nearly all of the music executives fought against the changes. An article in the New Yorker[4] describes one scrappy youngster who rose to the top by embracing the technology saying about the old technology of music on physical media "I fell exactly the same with music in the cloud. Everything's disruption, disruption, change, change, I'm used to disruption". Here are some skills for a human to employ when disruption is happening around them[5][6]
- Learning Agility = Thriving in a rapidly changing environment requires the ability to learn quickly and adapt. People who embrace continuous learning, seek out new knowledge, and are open to change tend to thrive during disruptions.
- Resilience = Disruption often brings challenges, setbacks, and uncertainty. Resilient individuals bounce back from adversity, maintain a positive outlook, and persevere even when faced with obstacles³.
- Grounded Optimism = Balancing optimism with a realistic understanding of the situation is crucial. People who maintain hope while acknowledging the complexities of disruption can navigate challenges effectively.
- Adaptability = Those who can adjust their strategies, approaches, and mindset to fit changing circumstances thrive. Flexibility and the ability to pivot when necessary are essential.
Technology Adaption
Technology is quite literally changing the world we live it. We can try to hold back technology, but that is likely to be as effective as King Canute trying to hold back the tide.[7] The New Yorker article on the music industry shows how Human Adaption to technology can improve the User Experience while maintaining a living for the song makers.[4] Still the change in the way that music was distributed that started as device apps, became fully realized when the cloud apps adapted to the new device apps. Eventually all parties and technologies adapted together to improve User Experience. It was not an easy transition, nor was the final outcome one that was expected as the changes were happening. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence we are experiencing yet another wrinkle, the apps can listen to music to identify its source.
References
- ↑ Joseph A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. London: Routledge. 1942 pp. 82–83. ISBN 978-0-415-10762-4
- ↑ Steve Brusatte, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. William Morrow 2018 p. 300ff ISBN 978-0-06-249042-1
- ↑ Warren and Brandeis Privacy (1890) Harvard Law Review
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lucian Grainge quoted by John Seabrook, The Next Scene, The New Yorker (2024-02-05) p. 24ff
- ↑ World Economic Forum, 3 vital skills for the age of disruption https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/3-vital-skills-for-the-age-of-disruption/
- ↑ Blue Ocean Brain, 6 Skills for Leading Through Disruption https://blog.blueoceanbrain.com/blog/6-skills-for-leading-through-disruption
- ↑ Medieval manuscripts blog, Turning the Tide https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/11/turning-the-tide.html
External
- Synonyms: Creative Destruction
