Globalization and the erosion of geo-ethnic checkpoints: evolving signal-boundary systems at the edge of chaos

Chris Girard ()
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Chris Girard: Florida International University

Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, 2020, vol. 17, issue 1, No 5, 93-109

Abstract: Abstract Spatial boundaries, thermodynamic–economic specialization, and signal processing are at the core of evolution’s major transitions. Centered on these three dimensions, a proposed evolutionary informatics model roots ethnic and racial cleavages in zero-sum contests over rivalrous resources within geophysical sites. As the geophysical boundaries and signal-processing complexity of social systems coevolved, zero-sum contests centered on metropoles extracting resources from hinterlands. In this colonial extraction process, racialization arose from non-market spatial segregation of populations tagged with hinterland lineage. Subsequent post-industrial erosion—and greater permeability—of racial and ethnic boundaries has been enabled by the progressive uncoupling of more highly evolved complex adaptive systems from geophysical location (non-territorial adaptation). Signal and physical topologies are becoming more distinct. This uncoupling from physical location is driven by cybernetic parallelism in complex adaptive systems: diverse and independent agents learning from their mutual exchange of signals. Cybernetic parallelism has generated epistemic and geopolitical challenges to formal apartheid and racializing immigration policies, but not without friction or reversals.

Keywords: International economic history; Complex adaptive systems; Racialization; Signal-boundary systems; Evolutionary informatics; Ecology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F60 J15 N50 O30 Q57 R11 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s40844-019-00152-2

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