Todd Suomela's Library tagged predator-or-prey →  View Popular, Search in Google

Today, the signature of modern American capitalism is neither benign competition, nor class struggle, nor an inclusive middle-class utopia. Instead, predation has become the dominant feature—a system wherein the rich have come to feast on decaying systems built for the middle class. The predatory class is not the whole of the wealthy; it may be opposed by many others of similar wealth. But it is the defining feature, the leading force. And its agents are in full control of the government under which we live.

economics politics public-interest public government failure predator-or-prey state

"Removal of top predators trickles through the food web"

environment predator-or-prey extinction consequences biology nature

We present a dynamical model that describes the evolution of offer and demand in a financial market. The model considers a fully connected network of interacting agents that may be willing to operate in the market, either by selling the stock or by buying it, or that are not interested in operating at that moment. The agents change their mind through self- or mutual influence, and the decision is adopted on a random basis, like in a predator-prey model.

financial-engineering market-failure agent-based-model predator-or-prey arxiv

The core of Palin's campaign was an appeal to fear. Her supporters found this appeal appealing because they were afraid. But I don't think that they started out afraid of the same things that Palin wanted them to be afraid of -- immigrants and gays and commies and black people and Islamofascists and babykillers. I think they started out with more reasonable fears of things that really threatened their lives and livelihoods. It makes sense to be afraid if your life lacks security -- if you're one paycheck or one illness away from losing your home, if the rules aren't clear and they're constantly changing and seem to be stacked against you, if you're barely treading water and you're not sure how much longer you can keep it up. Faced with that kind of insecurity, that kind of exposure to chance and risk and catastrophe, it makes sense to long for cover. Palin offered her supporters the illusion of cover -- like the fake tunnel that reassures the neurotic gerbil. That offer was attractive, but it ultimately doesn't help them. It can't really make them unafraid.

More essentially, the core audience at Palin's rallies seemed to be made up of people who had come to regard themselves as a prey species of animal. These are people, that is to say, who have come to feel that they are not in charge of their own lives or their own fates -- that they're acted on more than they are free to act.

politics psychology speculation fear habit predator-or-prey instinct