Co-Evolution in a Competitive Market

Abstract

Here we give a model of co-evolution in a society of economic agents, defined as autonomous software entities equipped with their own utility functions. These utility functions are governed by the market mechanism. We also provide an evolutionary explanation of how social competence that motivates coordinated behaviors can emerge through competitive interactions among agents. We must understand the following basic issues: how to get the architecture of an agent as a part of a complex system suitable for evolution, how self-interested behaviors evolve into coordinated behaviors, and how the structure of each goal (utility) function can be modified for globally coordinated behaviors. We show that the concept of sympathy becomes a fundamental element for co-evolution.