Editing Technological evolution (section)

==Combinatoric theory of technological change==

The combinatoric theory of technological change states that every technology always consists of simpler technologies, and a new technology is made of already existing technologies. One notion of this theory is that this interaction of technologies creates a network. All the technologies which interact to form a new technology can be thought of as complements, such as a screwdriver and a screw which by their interaction create the process of screwing a screw.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kauffman|first1=Stuart|date=2019|title=Innovation and The Evolution of the Economic Web|journal=Entropy|volume=21|issue=9|page=864|doi=10.3390/e21090864|pmc=7515393|doi-access=free|bibcode=2019Entrp..21..864K }}</ref> This newly formed process of screwing a screw can be perceived as a technology itself and can therefore be represented by a new node in the network of technologies. The new technology itself can interact with other technologies to form a new technology again. As the process of combining existing technologies is repeated again and again, the network of technologies grows.

A described mechanism of technological change has been termed, “combinatorial evolution”.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Arthur |first1=W. Brian |title=Darwinism theory of evolution applied to technology |url=https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Darwinism-theory-of-evolution-applied-to-technology#:~:text=Their%20reasoning%2C%20very%20much%20%C3%A0,ideas%20%2D%20which%20produces%20many%20variations.&text=The%20steady%20accumulation%20of%20such,and%20the%20result%20is%20evolution. |website=ComputerWeekly.com |access-date=18 August 2021}}</ref> Others have called it, “technological recursion”.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fink |first1=Thomas M. A. |last2=Teimouri |first2=Ali |title=The mathematical structure of innovation |date=2019 |page=1 |arxiv=1912.03281 }}</ref>

Brian Arthur has elaborated how the theory is related to the mechanism of genetic recombination from evolutionary biology and in which aspects it differs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Arthur |first1=W. Brian |title=Darwinism theory of evolution applied to technology |url=https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Darwinism-theory-of-evolution-applied-to-technology#:~:text=Their%20reasoning%2C%20very%20much%20%C3%A0,ideas%20%2D%20which%20produces%20many%20variations.&text=The%20steady%20accumulation%20of%20such,and%20the%20result%20is%20evolution. |website=ComputerWeekly.com |access-date=18 August 2021}}</ref>