The structure of an ecosystem

Looking at a biological ecosystem, it would seem silly to ask who are the leaders and who is doing the planning. Common sense tells us that it doesn't work that way. Existence, success and survival in the biological world is about adaptation not forward planning. This involves a strategy of species dividing up into large numbers of individuals, each with a slightly different genetic make up. Each species maintains its existence through having a large variety of solutions to cope with unpredictable changes that may happen to, or within, the environment. There is no planning. The strategy is simply to provide enough options to cover all contingencies.

Seeing success in terms of blind moves, with chance and probability deciding the results, a biological ecosystem appears to have very little relevance to any kind of business model let alone provide any clues for an individual who is seeking to find a suitable niche in the world of e-business. The trick though is to use another paradigm shift. Instead of focusing on the whole system, the species, or the individuals of the species, think about the ecosystem from the genetic level.

Any individual of a species can be looked at as a specific combination of genes. These genes each have a particular function and their interactions result in the manifestation of the form of the particular individual of a species. Now think of the ecosystem as a civilisation. Think of each species as an industry. Think of each individual of a species as a business or a company. Where would a human fit into this metaphor?

Human activity would equate to the role of the genes, the small units whose activity creates and performs the functioning of the individual (the business). In the process of evolution, genes are NOT randomly selected from a pool. They are preferentially selected from genes that have succeeded in the past.

Does this ring a bell? Aren't most groups of people, put together for a business project or a competitive game, selected in a similar way? A selection process based upon performance in the past?