Biological evolution should inform humans how to design markets

If the global COVID-19 pandemic has taught humans anything, it profoundly illustrates the lesson that humans are as dependent on their peers as bees or ants. Scientists, academics, pharmaceutical industry executives, philanthropists, and government agencies jointly launched a vaccine program that broke all records in terms of speed and efficiency. All these roles are necessary for this job-no role can be successful without another role.

This clearly shows to me what the main advantage of human society is: the division of labor makes human beings greater than the sum of their parts. There are many more prosaic examples. As I write this article, the software I use is not something I created on a computer that I can never manufacture, all of which are driven by electricity that I have neither discovered nor generated.

A background in medicine and biology has given me unique insights into the interrelationship of complex systems. My years of experience in trading technology have allowed me to learn a lot about market design. Both reinforce the belief that specialization is as important to economic success as biological health.

Just like a natural ecosystem, a market contains millions of individual behaviors and interactions. In general, these different behaviors constitute a super organism whose unique characteristics and behaviors can be observed and predicted by extrapolation.

Most economists agree with Adam Smith’s view that economic growth in the modern world is entirely attributable to the cumulative effect of the division of labor that is distributed by the market and driven by new technologies. This is the great advantage of role separation: by specializing at the individual level, species can be organized at the group level.

Motivation to survive

According to the biologist Richard Dawkins (Richard Dawkins), these self-interested behaviors usually benefit the entire species Selfish gene, Not due to a conscious choice. Rather, it is the result of the driving force that is rooted in genes for every living thing.

If a creature does put greater interests above its personal interests, then it is unlikely to be an act of benevolence, because its destiny is inseparable from the destiny of the group. A sterile worker ant serves the fertile queen all his life, because its only chance to continue its genetic building blocks is to ensure the queen’s reproductive ability. At the end of her life, the queen gave birth to sterile workers because she needed other people who were willing to dedicate themselves to feeding and caring for her while she reproduced.

In nature, the selfish behavior of individuals leads to the result of supporting overall prosperity, which is why many creatures—from corals to insects to wolves—combine into a fundamentally harmonious collective. A termite is almost powerless on its own, but a group of termites can work together to build dazzling heights and complex structures.

The same is true for humans. Although small hunter-gatherer groups can exist without professional knowledge, today’s complex society—like ants and bees, containing billions of people—requires separation of roles to function, prosper, and progress. None of us have the intellectual or physical stamina—or longevity—to be an expert in all the activities that make society work, let alone progress. Instead, we chose a major, usually when we were young and mentally flexible enough to understand the ins and outs of the role we chose. The decision to specialize is selfish: we can only do so much, so we usually stick to a career path that uses and rewards our innate abilities and/or education.

But the sum of all these individual efforts and knowledge systems-Smith phone “The proliferation of all different works of art”-is much more beneficial to the collective than each of us must be a master in all industries.

The allocation of tasks will not only generate money, but also time, which can be used to develop further progress. It is the selfish pursuit of what can best satisfy and reward us personally, coupled with our ability to choose and build on the discoveries of our predecessors, which leads us from hunting and gathering to space flight and immunotherapy.

On the threshold of change

When we study how the market works, we will see that the principle of selfish genes works every hour in reality. Individuals take action to benefit themselves—that is, to make a profit and outperform others in competition. Although some participants may fail on an individual level, in general, competition will lead to better products and overall wealth growth.

With the emergence of the decentralized Internet driven by artificial intelligence and blockchain, we are on the verge of market efficiency and rich changes-the benefits will be powered by the self-interested behavior of billions of individuals.

related: Is the new decentralized Internet or Web 3.0 possible?

The specialization of interdependence-the key to human progress-is embedded in both the blockchain code and the DNA. From bottom to top, individual agents on the blockchain will develop and expand new systems and products through competition to improve the wealth and health of society in countless ways. These different behaviors can make the market more efficient, thereby generating more opportunities, while reducing obstacles and pain points.

If, as I firmly believe, the market can be regarded as a living system, then we should not underestimate the potential of technology to greatly improve the diagnosis (analysis) and prognosis (prediction) of its health and behavior. One day, it will enable us to master the market, just as it helps us improve everything from medicine to traffic management.

related: No, blockchain technology cannot solve everything

This is not to promote unfettered capitalism that ignores the consequences. After all, selfish genes should oppose activities that may cause health-damaging pollution, disrupt the food chain, or, in the worst case, make our planet uninhabitable.

Instead, we should view the market as an ecosystem that becomes stronger through competition. Healthier markets are more likely to provide solutions to problems that put our species—and our personal selfish genes—at risk.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are only those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.