Evolutionary Arms Race
Reciprocal adaptation between species locked in antagonistic relationships, where improvements in one select for counter-improvements in the other.
Used in the Books
This term appears in 10 chapters:
"...lution isn't just competition - it's also cooperation, symbiosis, and complex game theory. You'll learn about fitness landscapes, Red Queen dynamics (evolutionary arms races), mutualism versus parasitism, and why the "best" company often doesn't win. Book 8: Ecosystem Orchestration How to think about entire markets a..."
"Documents that extinction probability remains constant over millions of years regardless of species age - explained by continuous evolutionary arms races where species must constantly adapt just to maintain relative fitness. Named after the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass: "It ..."
"Automation alone has false positives. Third-party enforcement alone is expensive. Combined, they create robust cheater detection. The Evolutionary Arms Race But cheater detection isn't static - it's an evolutionary arms race: 2000: eBay uses feedback ratings."
"...abilities, assessing subtle differences in flash timing and intensity that distinguish real Photinus females from Photuris mimics. This is an ongoing evolutionary arms race between signal honesty and signal deception. Ritualization: Exaggerated Displays from Repurposed Behaviors Many visual displays evolved through..."
"Some host species have evolved rejection behaviors (ejecting eggs that don't match their own), creating an evolutionary arms race: cuckoos evolve better mimicry, hosts evolve better discrimination. But cuckoo parasitism persists because it's rare enough that strong discriminatio..."
And 5 more chapters...
Biological Context
Predator speed selects for prey speed. Host immunity selects for pathogen evasion. Arms races can produce elaborate adaptations that seem excessive until the competitor is considered. The Red Queen effect describes perpetual running to stay in place.
Business Application
Business arms races: advertising escalation, feature competition, patent races. Understanding when you're in an arms race helps decide whether to compete or seek asymmetric strategies.