A theory of classification and evolution of technologies within a Generalised Darwinism

ABSTRACT

This paper here proposes a theory of classification and evolution of technology based on taxonomic characteristic of interaction between technologies that is an under-studied field of research in economics of technical change and management of technology. The proposed classification of technologies, in a broad analogy with evolutionary ecology of parasites, within a theoretical framework of Generalised Darwinism, is: (1) parasitic technologies, (2) commensal technologies, (3) mutualistic technologies, (4) symbiotic technologies. This theory here suggests the property of mutual benefaction from interaction between different technologies and the theorem of not independence of any technology to explain and predict characteristics and evolutionary pathways of technologies over time. Overall, then, this study may be useful for bringing a new perspective in economics of innovation to categorise and analyse the interaction between technologies that can be a ground work for development of more sophisticated concepts to explain and predict the evolution of technology and generalise aspects of technological change in human society.

KEYWORDS:

• Classification of technology
• innovation
• symbiotic technologies
• parasitic technologies
• technological interaction
• technological change
• technological evolution
• evolution of technology
• complex systems
• Generalised Darwinism
• evolutionary economics
• evolution
• Neo-Schumpeterian economics
• technological parasitism
• theorem of not independence of any technology
• directions of technical change

JEL CODES:

• O30
• O33
• B50

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Mario Coccia is a social scientist at the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and visiting scholar at Arizona State University (ASU). He has been research fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Economics and visiting professor at the Polytechnics of Torino and University of Piemonte Orientale (Italy). He has conducted research work at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Yale University, United Nations University-Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), RAND Corporation (Washington, DC), University of Maryland (College Park), Bureau d’Économie Théorique et Appliquée (Strasbourg), Munk School of Global Affairs (University of Toronto), and Institute for Science and Technology Studies (University of Bielefeld). He leads CocciaLAB at CNR to investigate, with interdisciplinary scientific researches, the determinants of socioeconomic phenomena, such as technology, science, war, new technology, evolution of scientific fields, economic growth, human progress, etc. He has written more than 250 papers in several disciplines.

ORCID

Mario Coccia http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1957-6731

Notes

1. cf., Oppenheimer 1955.

2. Barabási et al. (2001) suggested a parasitic computer to solve the nondeterministic polynomial time-complete satisfiability problem by engaging different web servers physically located in three continents (America, Europe and Asia).

3. The term taxonomy (from ancient Greek word taxon=arrangement, array) refers to a branch of systematics based on theories and rules of producing classification schemes with the aim of maximizing the differences among groups. Thus, a taxonomic process provides rules on how to form and represent groups with classifications (Coccia 2006).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Research Council of Italy and National Endowment for the Humanities (USA) [grant number 0003005-2016].