Physics · Dynamics
RedQueenRace
In a co-evolving environment an agent must keep changing just to hold its position, because the yardstick of fitness moves with every rival's change
Definition
Mechanism
Agents that prey on, parasitise or compete with each other each change in response to the others. Each change is an ExogenousStress for the rest, which must change in turn to keep the same rate of success, as the Red Queen runs to stay in place. Innovation is then required just to keep up, and growth goes sideways as much as forwards. Over time the criteria for success get stricter (like password rules tightening in an arms race with attackers), so the target itself moves and earlier and later generations cannot be compared on one scale. Examples include immune systems and pathogens, jamming and counter-jamming in air defence, and competing firms.
Preconditions
- Two or more agents whose success depends on each other's current form
Invariants
- Each party's change alters the conditions of success for the others
- Standing still means losing ground
- Fitness at different times is measured against different yardsticks
Risks
Failure modes
Treating a past winning shape as permanently safe
Measuring progress against a fixed yardstick while rivals move it
Relationships
Builds on
References
An external event or change in requirements that the current shape does not handle and that forces it to change
Nothing in this library builds on this pattern yet.
Reference