Evolutionary Systems Thinking -- From Equilibrium Models to Open-Ended Adaptive Dynamics

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2602.15957v1
• Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2026 19:17:50 GMT
• Title: Evolutionary Systems Thinking -- From Equilibrium Models to Open-Ended Adaptive Dynamics
• Authors: Dan Adler,
• Abstract summary: Complex change is often described as "evolutionary" in economics, policy, numerically and technology.<n>This paper argues that evolutionary dynamics should be treated as a core system-thinking problem rather than as a biological metaphor.
• Score: 1.2691047660244335
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Complex change is often described as "evolutionary" in economics, policy, and technology, yet most system dynamics models remain constrained to fixed state spaces and equilibrium-seeking behavior. This paper argues that evolutionary dynamics should be treated as a core system-thinking problem rather than as a biological metaphor. We introduce Stability-Driven Assembly (SDA) as a minimal, non-equilibrium framework in which stochastic interactions combined with differential persistence generate endogenous selection without genes, replication, or predefined fitness functions. In SDA, longer-lived patterns accumulate in the population, biasing future interactions and creating feedback between population composition and system dynamics. This feedback yields fitness-proportional sampling as an emergent property, realizing a natural genetic algorithm driven solely by stability. Using SDA, we demonstrate why equilibrium-constrained models, even when simulated numerically, cannot exhibit open-ended evolution: evolutionary systems require population-dependent, non-stationary dynamics in which structure and dynamics co-evolve. We conclude by discussing implications for system dynamics, economics, and policy modeling, and outline how agent-based and AI-enabled approaches may support evolutionary models capable of sustained novelty and structural emergence.

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