Well, the same can be said of bicycles, standards (VCRs, Operating Systems),airplanes, and internet companies. First there is a proliferation of designs, then mass extinctions (see Steven J. Gould's "Wonderful Life" for the biological application)with a few similar designs left over, continuing to evolve in ever smaller refinements. See John Holland's "Hidden Order" and "Emergence" for the mathematical treatment; Dean Simonton's "Origins of Genius" (which argues that geniuses don't have better ideas, but that their output of ideas is that much greater than normal, allowing for selectivity). In business, I think the standard is Henry Mintzberg's "Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning," which argues against infallible a priori thinking in successful business ventures.

thoughts?