From: Robin Hanson (rhanson@gmu.edu)
Date: Wed Feb 23 2000 - 07:33:37 MST
Anders Sandberg replied to James Rogers:
> > I realize that "aggressive" and "belligerent" are not the same,
> > but they *are* on the same side of the tracks. Competition between
> > businesses can be viewed as a form of economic warfare from the POV of the
> > businesses involved.
>
>Isn't that very much "the old economy" thinking? In the emerging new
>economy competition has become a much more complex interaction, where
>the basic aggresiveness structure that worked well before may not be
>very fit. If two companies can be competitors and supporters at the
>same time, won't standard aggression risk that situation?
Competition has long been complicated. The details change with the
economic seasons, but the overall advantages of aggression probably
haven't changed much. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors also had very
complicated arrangements of competition and cooperation. In fact, that
is a strong candidate for why we have such complex brains - to deal
with complex shifting alliances, etc.
Robin Hanson rhanson@gmu.edu http://hanson.gmu.edu
Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
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