competition -

Learning About Where We Goofed Up

By kpluseiswise | April 11, 2024April 10, 2024 by kpluseiswise

What went right? Do you ever wonder how we got here? Do you ever think about what has changed over hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution? The past few decades have seen exponential growth in technology. Smartphones. Passenger trips to space. Electric vehicles. Lots of crazy new tech. In most of our lifetimes, technological advances have dominated the changes we experience. Science changed the world. Medical advances like germ theory and surgical techniques have…

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Nature Knows Best (Episode 123)

By kpluseiswise | May 4, 2023November 7, 2023 by kpluseiswise

For the past twenty-some Episodes, I have been trying to figure out how to formulate my current question of interest. Generally, I am trying to make the case that Nature provides a wealth of information. Further, I am pleading with humankind to CONSULT nature when making decisions. Especially decisions that affect our species’ or planets’ health. I have used evolution and natural selection (with DNA being the mechanism) as filters, of sorts, that approve or…

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KEW Acid Test: Nature Cooperates to Reduce Competition (Episode 109)

By kpluseiswise | January 26, 2023January 12, 2023 by kpluseiswise

I really dislike Competition. And it is a touchy subject. In an article I published on Medium, I received several hateful comments defending the importance of competition in business and sports. In KEW Episode 95 I discuss Rugged Individualism vs. Unified Connection to make the point that competition focuses on isolation rather than community. I talk about this topic a lot. And it is important for me to revisit this in the spirit of the…

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FLASHBACK! KEW Episode 6: Competition

By kpluseiswise | February 21, 2022 by kpluseiswise

Often touted as the thing that regulates Capitalism and prevents monopolies (ummm, Amazon.com?). Often brings out the worst in people (ever get in a fight over Monopoly the board game?). Often said to teach our children how to play fair (but check out the parents on the sidelines!). As a retired Ecologist and Evolutionary Biologist, I learned about competition as the thing that creates new species. It’s sort of why or how the whole evolution…

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PREVIEW KEW Episode 71: Sustainability

By kpluseiswise | November 10, 2021 by kpluseiswise

Are you familiar with the term ‘sustainability’? You may have heard it in the context of environmentalism, and that is a valid use. I actually came to the term via my Ecology and Evolutionary Biology training. I think sustainability is simply about being aware that things run out. My favorite definition is something like: Making sure what you use doesn’t get used up. In the context of The Are vs Should Problem, I think sustainability…

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FLASHBACK! to KEW Episode 6: Competition

By kpluseiswise | October 19, 2020 by kpluseiswise

Often I think competition brings out the worst in people. In ecology, natural selection can be thought of as a solution to competition and the problems it creates. In fact, competition is the mechanism that, when avoided, leads to speciation and biodiversity. In sports and economics competition is often viewed as fun or even critical. Here I argue that competition is important, but can be taken too far; to the point where it can negatively…

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KEW Episode 6: Competition

By kpluseiswise | May 29, 2020June 13, 2023 by kpluseiswise

I’m not a big fan of competition. I’m talking specifically about two types of competition we hear about often The first type of competition is within the construct of capitalism. People are constantly referring to how competition ‘regulates markets’ and ‘prevents monopolies’. I guess in this economic sense competition is SUPPOSED to do these things. In theory? From where I sit the market looks more like it is dominated by one or two giant companies…