There are some striking parallels between inventions and living
organisms, and between technology in a consumer marketplace and an
ecosystem. Insights gained through the comparisons may be
beneficial to inventors, companies, consumers and the patent
community. What are the connections? To review, living
organisms exist in an ecosystem, and flourish or perish according
to the laws of nature, with survival of the fittest.
Variations among the organisms occur from generation to generation,
and are positively or negatively selected over the passage of time
and generations, as organisms evolve. This begets new
species, which occupy environmental niches in the ecosystem, and
also begets extinction in which species die off. Ideas,
invention and technology exist in a sort of man-made ecosystem,
with the consumer marketplace performing a selection process, the
whole experiencing a type of guided evolution.
