Technological Parasitism

Abstract

Technological parasitism is a new theory to explain the evolution of technology in society. In this context, this study proposes a model to analyze the interaction between a host technology (system) and a parasitic technology (subsystem) to explain evolutionary pathways of technologies as complex systems. The coefficient of evolutionary growth of the model here indicates the typology of evolution of parasitic technology in relation to host technology: i.e., underdevelopment, growth and development. This approach is illustrated with realistic examples using empirical data of product and process technologies. Overall, then, the theory of technological parasitism can be useful for bringing a new perspective to explain and generalize the evolution of technology and predict which innovations are likely to evolve rapidly in society.