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adoption. Unfavorable opinion feedback loops slow growth or
outright kill the idea so that it does not diffuse.
● Agents with an interest in the emergent property may seek to
influence the diffusion process and take actions that change the
context thereby forcing other agents to react to the changes in the
contexts. This process is known as co-evolving. With active agents
spontaneously acting on and reacting to shifts in the context.
There is no overarching guidance and no end goal, just personal
interests.
● As the context shifts under the actions of countless agents pursuing
their own concerns, active system agents must adapt to the
changes in terms of competence, behavior, structure, and the mix
of internal agents. To the extent that a system fails to adapt, it
loses contextual legitimacy and will fail.
● Diffusion slows as the natural ceiling of exogenous energy is
reached and the feedback loops turn negative as counteracting
(competitive) actions hold the energy flow in a stable state. This
persists until disrupted and an alternate variant on the now
established functionality emerges and captures the cycle of positive
feedback starving the old offering.
● This entire context dynamic with agent adaptation is rooted in
spontaneous self-interested (including altruistic) actions by
individuals self-organizing to act with others where necessary, to
drive non-linear, unpredictable emergence and diffusion through
stigmergic action.
So the very Last Word! We are indeed, ‘one with the context’. We
ignore it at the risk of our own demise.
Toronto 2018
96
©Business Games Works 2018 (Version 1)