Lotka-Volterra predator prey model, a model
of corruption?
R.A.Pitt PhD
Abstract
Dawkins (1) proposed the notion of a meme as an element of
culture that can be passed on. A number
of authors including Aaron Lynch, (2) and Suzanne Blackmore (3)
have taken up the idea.
The author accepts the centuries old idea that there is a
struggle of survival for ideas but
rejects the approach of Dawkins et al.
The author will argue that the battle for ideas is a Lamarkian
process, and that the notion that
ideas can be broken down into a collection of discrete, selfish,
chunks analogous to genes at best
unhelpful and at worst wrong. The author is carrying out a series
of studies that compares and
contrasts well-known and accepted Darwinian processes in nature,
with those within the world of
ideas.
This paper looks at the Lotka-Volterra predator prey model and
compares it with the battle between
pro and anti corruption forces.
References
(1) Richard Dawkins "The selfish gene" Oxford
University Press 1976 (revised 1989)
(2) Aaron Lynch "Thought contagion" Basic Books 1996
(3) Susan Blackmore "The meme machine" Oxford
University Press 1999