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Filed under “Evolution” for distribution to my students. Will be accompanied with my favourite video on the subject: . What are the lessons?
One big lesson is that human beings are overconfident. While we congratulate ourselves on conquering polio and eradicating malaria in some countries, the reality is that new, deadly diseases are coming. And they are coming because of our intervention with nature.
They are also coming because of increased interconnectedness of human and animal societies thanks to cheap travel and the rise of animal husbandry.
And while we will keep inventing more drugs to fight old diseases, nature will fight back by creating new ones. It’s called evolution which is so well depicted in the Harvard video which teaches us that in the long run, the bacteria and the viruses will have the last laugh.
Another big lesson is that hospitals are some of the most dangerous places on this planet. That’s where the deadliest, the most drug-resistant viruses and bacteria are found.
Another lesson is that innovations in business are akin to mutations in evolution. They are simply experiments. No one knows what will work and what won’t.
Just like a random mutation can result in the birth of an antibiotic- resistant bacteria, which will spread, a new business strategy could, just through randomness, turn out to be a better “fit” for the environment and will create success.
And so there is no point trying to predict which innovation or which business strategy will succeed. No one knows. Not even the consultants.
Another lesson is to distinguish between the evolution of a bacteria which has a lifespan of, say, 15 minutes from business or investment strategies the results of which often take several years to materialise.
Bacteria can learn and therefore adapt much faster than business operators and investors simply because the feedback is so much delayed in business and investing. This is a big problem because it makes it very hard, if not impossible, to distinguish luck from skill.
