Evolution: a simple explanation
Evolution describes our collective learning journey, from being excited by novelty to becoming bored by ubiquity.
Think of any invention - fire, electricity or the Internet.
They were once a huge thing. They sparked humanity's imagination.
But today, they generate little excitement.
The "potential" value has been harnessed; we know what to expect. These things have become predictable and our minds are occupied with more thrilling innovations to contemplate.​
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The concept of Evolution has four phases which we use to share our assumptions and expedite knowledge exchange::​
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Genesis - things in this phase possess significant potential but lack practical use today. They are highly experimental, even theoretical, such as space travel or teleportation.
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Custom-build - some individuals can create solutions that work, but there is limited predictability, leading to highly diverse solutions.
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Product - a solution has a name and a description, and it generally performs as expected.
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Commodity - something is so mundane that you prefer not to contemplate it. Think of electricity.
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How to use Evolution?
It is a good start to use the concept of Evolution to calibrate your focus.
Commodity things have their potential already explored. It is very difficult to make them significantly better - because it is a numbers game - large scale requires a big investment. Usually, it is far better to adopt existing solutions instead of sticking to custom ones.
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Things which are in the custom-built space have some potential value that can be explored - and there is some real value that can be found there.
Building your unique value while using standardised components it the way to go.