clipped from: www.sciam.com   

Evolution and economics are both examples of a larger mysterious phenomenon



iving along the Orinoco River that borders Brazil and Venezuela are the Yanomamö people, hunter-gatherers whose average annual income has been estimated at the equivalent of $90 per person per year. Living along the Hudson River that borders New York State and New Jersey are the Manhattan people, consumer-traders whose average annual income has been estimated at $36,000 per person per year. That dramatic difference of 400 times, however, pales in comparison to the differences in Stock Keeping Units (SKUs, a measure of the number of types of retail products available), which has been estimated at 300 for the Yanomamö and 10 billion for the Manhattans, a difference of 33 million times!

How did this happen?

the explanation is to be found in complexity theory