The Red Queen
In nature, evolution informs the competitive capacity of species as they relate to other, interconnected species.
If a type of deer in a particular region evolves to run faster, its primary predator, a large cat, must also then become faster. Those of its ilk that do not will be unable to eat and die off, leaving the faster permutations of its species to reproduce more successfully, which over time locks that increase in speed into its genetic makeup.
Speed is just a placeholder example, though. That big cat could also evolve to be more cunning, to have better camouflage, or to have keener eyesight at night, allowing it to more successfully sneak up on deer while they sleep.
The idea is that there’s a constant, always-on arms-race between species in all ecosystems, and balance is maintained because—although beneficial adjustments happen at different times, paces, and rhythms—over time, these newly evolved advantages are cancelled out by evolutions in other species that are part of the same ecosystem.
This tendency within ecosystems to balance out is in many ways beneficial, as unbalanced ecosystems tend to collapse due to instability.
A too-successful apex predator would eventually run out of potential prey, themselves then dying off. And a too-successful prey-species, like deer, would eventually overpopulate, leading to a lack of local food to nibble on, which would then lead to their destruction via starvation.
The downside of this type of continuous competition, though, is that species stuck within this never-ending struggle tend to expend a great deal of energy—or what we might think of as evolutionary focus—on that struggle.
Evolution can select for all kinds of different traits, but the competitive environment in which a species of deer exists forces it to opt for traits that will allow the population of deer in question to become more competitive against their specific predator.
Those deer could conceivably genetically expand in any direction, but they’re forced down a particular path: a path carved by the necessities of raw survival. And the path they take will almost certainly never bring them true gains in what’s often called evolutionary progress or fitness, because the species against which they’re competing tend to gain fitness at the same rate.
It’s a no-win situation: none of the species involved really benefit from this evolutionary back-and-forth, but none of them can afford to every stop, to ever slow down, because they would be overrun by those that maintained a full-out pace.
This concept, often called the Red Queen Hypothesis or Red Queen Effect, is named after a scene in Lewis Carroll’s book, Through the Looking-Glass, in which the protagonist, Alice, is dragged along into a run with the Red Queen. But the pair, though running full-tilt, don’t get anywhere: the environment around them remains the same, and after their run, completely exhausted, Alice comments upon how running in this land doesn’t behave as it would back home. The Queen replies, “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”
This metaphor, though not without controversy and contention—evolution is not literally an arms-race, and species are not literally holding still as a consequence of their competitive environment—has also been applied to other aspects of life, including economics and human social interactions.
In the business world, this concept describes the perceived necessity to compete against other brands that operate within the same facet of a particular industry.
Coca-Cola has to run fast and invest a great deal to come up with new beverage options, but even as they do, Pepsi is right there alongside them, doing the same.
The investments Coke has made are thus diminished in value, because their main competitor now has the same or essentially the same advantages.
The investments both companies have made, then, are a practical wash, but neither company can afford to not make these investments, because if they don’t, the other company will stampede right over them.
Thus, both companies are locked into a type of competition that may or may not actually improve their products, or their bank accounts. But they cannot not make such investments, because of the nature of the competitive space in which they exist.
The same is often true in our social lives, as we attempt to compete for the attention of potential romantic interests, increasing our visible and non-visible marketable attributes—income, looks, clothing, fancy cars, and other reputational indicators—only to look around and notice that everyone else is doing the same.
We make investments, but so does everyone else, and thus, relative to the competitive landscape in which we exist, we can run as fast as we like but still seem to be getting nowhere.
It can be useful, within the context of this analytical model, to remember that, first, our sense of holding still is relative, not absolute. When we make investments in ourselves or our companies, we are growing, even if everyone around us and our business-world competitors are growing, as well.
Changing as our environment changes, then, doesn’t mean we’re not getting better. It just means that our perception of that change is influenced by our perception of personal pace compared to the pace at which everyone and everything else is also changing.
Second, it’s possible to run incredibly fast and to never experience a sense of real growth and success, if we measure ourselves against that larger environmental metric.
This is the source of a lot of psychological and physical burnout, and it’s possible to extract oneself from it, but doing so requires the realization that a lot of us are playing tennis against a brick wall, and an acknowledgement that no matter how skillful and fit we become, it’s unlikely we’ll ever win playing that kind of game against that kind of opponent.
Third, it’s useful to recognize that within a system that operates in this way, it can be beneficial to think and behave asymmetrically, allowing ourselves to be comfortable playing different games, thinking beyond existing paradigms, and choosing to jump rope or swim or hold as still as possible when everyone else seems to be running a highly competitive (and exhausting) marathon.
Society won’t always reward such non-conformist behavior, but misaligning our actions and thinking patterns from those of the bulk of other people is one of the better ways to avoid comparing our tennis game to that of a brick wall, and one of the better ways to potentially spend more of our evolutionary energy moving in more meaningful directions, according to our own, personal definitions of “meaningful.”
—
This essay was originally published in another of my publications, Brain Lenses.
Every Tuesday I publish a free BL essay and podcast episode, and folks who contribute $5/month also receive a second weekly essay and podcast episode on Thursdays.
Five years ago I was living in Prague; such a lovely city.
Projects
This week on Brain Lenses I published an essay about Complexity Theoryand a podcast episode about Allostatic Load.
Last week’s episode of Let’s Know Things was about the three missions to Mars that launched last month.
I’ve also redesigned Exile Lifestyle—I’m in the process of updating some of the content; please let me know if you notice something not working as it should if you decide to click around.
Community
If you’re interested in telling me a bit about what you’ve been up to, how you’re doing, or want to share a photo showing your reality at the moment—send me an email.
Also: it would seem that adding these messages (and thus, significantly increasing the length of the newsletter) can land these emails in spam filters.
Sharing such things is one of my favorite aspects of producing this letter, though, so if you wouldn’t mind adding this email to your inbox, safe list, or email service equivalent (whatever indicates that this is a safe newsletter within the email platform you use), that would be super-helpful and very much appreciated :)
—
Last week, Christine in Santiago, Chile sent me this photo, saying:
“A photo I recently took that I think sums up most of my 2020 quite well - coffee & cat at home.”
In case you’re curious (I was), the cat’s name is Pingüi (Spanish for “penguin”).
—
Share your own thoughts/experiences/photos: colin@exilelifestyle.com
Interesting & Useful
Some neat things:
Drive & Listen(one of my new favorite things: watch footage from cars driving through cities around the world while listening to local radio stations from those cities)
How To Use a Slide-Rule(looking to learn a now-obscure bit of knowledge in a strangely compelling way?)
Number Fever(the story of a Pepsi promotional stunt that went sideways in a dramatic fashion)
Side-By-Side Portraits Of Famous Historical Figures & Their Direct Descendants(exactly what it says it is: neat photo project)
The Rise, Fall, and Rise of the Status Pineapple(old school trends are incredible)
For more interesting things of this kind, pop on over to Curiosity Gadget.
Outro
It’s been a quiet week here in mid-Missouri—though the slow march toward schools reopening around the US has generated a sort of calm-before-the-storm vibe, with everyone wondering if we’re on the verge of another pandemic-related lockdown.
We’re also slow-rolling toward a major election season in the US that perceptually seems to have been going on for years, and that has added more static to the air and a bit more anticipation to everyone’s day-to-day reality.
(You should absolutely make sure you’re registered to vote if you’re in the US, by the way.)
How’re things looking in your world? How’ve you been spending your time? How’re you feeling?
I respond to every email I get, so drop me a line and tell me what’s up, if you’re keen to share.
If you just want to vent to a stranger from the internet, that’s okay, too. There’s a lot going on in the world right now that is (to put it lightly) non-ideal, and many of these variables are beyond our personal control.
That’s frustrating and can imbue us with a sense of helplessness.
We’re not totally helpless, thankfully, and there’s plenty we can do for ourselves, for our loved ones, for our communities, and for humanity as a whole. But it doesn’t always feel that way, and if you’re not feeling terribly capable or productive at the moment, that’s okay. It’s normal and not indicative of some inherent character trait. It’s also not forever: this too shall pass.
—
You can also say howdy via Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or through a monumental demo.
If you’re finding some value in what I’m doing here, consider supporting my work by becoming a patron of my writing or my news analysis podcast, buying one of my books, or subscribing to Brain Lenses. You can also buy me a coffee if you’d like.
These online music tools are just so much fun (Chrome browser required).