[KhoomeiK]

> DNA and RNA are the non-volatile memory of the biological computer. Central nervous systems eventually reached a level of complexity that allowed them to persist memories, which opened up an even higher order problem solving mechanism. We humans have taken it even further with a cerebral cortex capable of abstraction, leading to complex language and the technology to record that language permanently.

Capitalism is to Natural Selection as the Brain is to the Genome. Capitalism is the same Darwinistic entropy engine as Natural Selection, just abstracted to the plane of higher thought rather than raw biochemistry.

[jotakami]

I like where you’re going with this but I’m not sure the analogy is quite right. If you’ve read Dawkins, the genome is composed of genes which are basically the quanta of self-replication. He goes on to coin the term “meme” to refer to the analogous units of self-replication in mindspace. In other words, the brain is not analogous to the genome, rather the particular collection of abstractions (memes) which dominate how a particular brain processes and reacts to the world would be its cerebral “genome”.

I think we can say that natural selection operates across all levels of abstraction, because in the end the only objective reality is the biochemical one. Everything else is simulation. There is certainly a strong parallel between capitalism and Darwinian natural selection but I can’t immediately see a way to state that relationship in a clear analogy.

[KhoomeiK]

I'd argue that capitalism selects not only for certain types of brains (in a sort of accelerated natural selection geared towards intellectual ability), but for certain memes as well. It selects for "social memes" that determine corporate culture, which contributes largely to whether a company succeeds or not. It also selects for more "ideological memes" that serve as the basis for the company itself.

A company's success is the result of a meme (or set of memes) the founder created (or borrowed) and convinced others to buy into. Others only buy into the meme if they believe it would be beneficial to themselves as well. Thus the system as a whole selects for memes that provide high benefit to society.