Standing Still at Full Speed: Sports in an Overheated World

In evolutionary biology, the “Red Queen Effect” refers to a form of inter- or intra-species competition where continuous improvement is necessary in order to survive and thrive, since the other species/individuals evolve. In sport, the same mechanism can be easily observed, and this article explores its implications. It discusses improved training regimes, scientific diets, innovative techniques enhancing performance, and technological improvements such as fibreglass skis. It argues that the upward spiral of improved achievement can be seen as an effect of the global market, or of the modern values of development and growth which are celebrated in modern sports. The world of competitive sports is not just an integral part of global capitalism, but it also mirrors and mimes its internal logic. The kinship between sport and war is obvious, and many sports grew out of military training. But since much of the world has been spared the horrors of war for generations, in the very same period that capitalism has become ever more hegemonic and globalised, sports in the 21st century have come to resemble market competition more than bloody events on the battlefield. Not least for this reason, the treadmill paradox, or Red Queen effect, easily discernable in market economies as a driver for change, whether progressive or destructive or both, can fruitfully be applied as an analytical lens through which to view sport. The question nevertheless remains to be answered as to whether the improved achievements of athletes lead to an improved spectator experience or the opposite. In this question lies an inherent paradox of contemporary world civilisation, with a literal as well as a metaphorical bearing on the critique of the unsustainable growth economy.

Building Inclusive States

Fragility arises when states are ineffective and when they are also illegitimate and unaccountable. These features are interconnected. People don’t want to cooperate with, or cede resources to, a state they cannot influence. We present a simple framework where the key to exiting fragility is a balance between the state and society. The state needs to develop more capacity, but to do this society needs to develop the ability to discipline and control it. We emphasize the existence of this type of “virtuous circle”—a phenomenon we call the “Red Queen effect.” We argue that the way of thinking about state-building is in terms of both widening the corridor in which the Red Queen effect operates and devising strategies to get into the corridor. We show how the framework helps account for the diminishing fragility of the state in post-apartheid South Africa, Somaliland, Sierra Leone, and Colombia.

AGENT MODELING OF COMPETITION AND COEVOLUTION OF FINTECH AND REGTECH2 IN THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL ECOSYSTEM: THE RED QUEEN EFFECT

This paper examines the competition and co-evolution of FinTech and RegTech2 in the global financial ecosystem using the methods of evolutionary economics. A simple agent-based model is built on the NetLogo platform and the emergence of cycles of technological dominance in the ecosystem is shown. The paper also discusses the “technological arms race” of regulators and system participants as a result of the co-evolution and competition of two technology groups, known as the red queen effect.

Are We All Compressed Developers?

Compressed-development influences increasingly flow from developing to developed countries. Reversing our lens to look at the United States and Japan, we observe that the technological and organizational changes that have spurred compressed development in recent developers are also responsible for changes in industry structure, rising inequality, and employment duality in developed economies. A ‘Red Queen’ effect sees developed countries running faster and undertaking parallel socioeconomic changes to stay in the same privileged place. In some ways ‘we are all compressed developers now’. Looking ahead, and returning to our dyadic pairs, the chapter further considers how the ‘digital economy’ may affect developing–developed country interrelations, and whether we are finally entering an age of ‘great convergence’ with the rise of China and a more multipolar economic and geopolitical structure.

The Small Intestine, an Underestimated Site of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: From Red Queen Effect to Probiotics

Understanding how the coronaviruses invade our body is an essential point, and the expression profile of coronaviruses receptor may help us to find where the coronavirus infects our body. We found that the coronavirus receptors, including angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) for SARS-CoV and SARS-Cov-2, are digestion-related enzymes in human enterocytes. Coronaviruses are continually altering the binding receptor and binding modes during their evolution, but the potential target cell in the small intestine is constant when in the lung is inconstant. Enterocytes may act as a conserved cell reservoir for coronaviruses, which may be partially explained by the Red Queen hypothesis. We also found that coronaviruses receptors could be elevated in the presence of both invasive bacteria and their counterpart, probiotics. We demonstrated here that enterocytes act as a conserved cell reservoir for coronaviruses during their evolutions, which should not be ignored in the investigation of coronavirus diagnosis and treatment strategies.

Between the Scylla of despotism and the Charybdis of social norms (On the book by D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson “Narrow corridor: States, societies and the fate of freedom”)

Why is it that in the history of mankind the economic prosperity of countries, and even over a relatively long time interval, is quite rare? Aсemoglu and Robinson (AR) proposed a fresh look at the problem in their new book “Narrow corridor: States, societies and the fate of freedom”. Here we examine the main elements of the conceptual framework in which different countries are located on a few subsets — despotic, constrained, absent, paper Leviathan — and also the transition of a country from one subset to another based on the application of the “Red Queen effect” is explained. We evaluate the explanatory potential of the heuristic model of AR in comparison with the approach of North, Wallis and Weingast to the study of social orders of limited and open access. Critical comments on the presented concept are formulated.