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Social ecosystems offer an environment for complex modes of interaction among its inhabitants, while ultimately supporting the basic mechanics of natural selection. A social ecosystem is always contained within a physical ecosystem. These complex modes require considerably more mechanisms of interaction, including the means to support interactions at a distance. As we expand our considerations into these areas, we will see more and more similarity between the operation of complex group mechanisms such as religion and the complex computer environments in which personal electronic devices come to the fore.

Ecosystems

The word ecosystem is a portmanteau, a word derived from the combination of other words that evokes a blending of their meanings. Ecology refers to the relationships among living things and their environment. System refers to a mechanism or collection of mechanisms with a unified purpose. Hence, an ecosystem refers to an environmental framework through which, or within which the interactions involving the species found therein can occur and through which these interactions can by analyzed and understood; more specifically, interactions among species and between species and their containing environments. Thus, an ecosystem comprises a complex space with a complex set of boundaries for the various systems that derive from or support the existence of the living things found within the space.

It is important to understand the use of the plural form in referencing the concept of boundaries relative to an ecosystem. In fact, an ecosystem is a multidimensional construct, not just a simply defined physical area; it may well owe its delineation to other dimensions besides location or extent.

The concept of an ecosystem arises from evolutionary biology’s consideration of the framework within which natural selection of species operates. In such an examination of the evolution of species, it may be assumed that both single as well as multi-level selection processes are at work. Consequently, it is necessary to allow the concept of ecosystem to encompass the framework within which simple and complex interactions occur. For social species, for example with the human species, this brings into play a variety of modes of interaction in both individual as well as in group form.

So, we can consider what forms the boundaries of ecosystems, and to what purpose. We are particularly interested in the behavior of humans and computer systems within the ecosystems that they inhabit, either individually or collectively. We would like to understand the establishment of boundaries because they will play into the definition of the bounds of policy infrastructures when we start to examine the behavior of human group organizations and interactions. The boundaries are not always formidable, physical barriers. Sometimes they are relatively tenuous, in the wild as among organizational groupings. Let us consider an extremely simplistic example.

Suppose that we find an island that contains a fresh water spring, a wild lettuce patch and rabbits. This will constitute our example ecosystem. The climate supports periodic rain that nurtures the lettuce. The rabbits have little rabbits and they all eat the lettuce and drink the water. If they have too many babies, then the overpopulation of rabbits eats up all the lettuce; when the lettuce is gone, they all die. If the lettuce is infected with blight and dies, then the rabbits either learn to become cannibals, or else they all die. If the spring dries up, then all the rabbits die of thirst. If the climate changes and the rains don’t provide adequate sustenance for the lettuce, then it dies. There seem to be lots of opportunities for bad news for the rabbits. Of course, if everything goes along

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