Economies of Small

AI fundamentally shifts the point where diminishing returns to management kick in

The cost of the "monitoring the monitors" problem. Each new layer of management requires its own administrative support and oversight, causing a recursive cost increase that spirals rapidly.

Network Reciprocity (Martin Nowak)

• The Finding: Cooperation survives in "spatial" or "viscous" populations where cooperators form clusters (small pockets). If you mix the population thoroughly (simulating a globalized, large-scale society), defectors destroy cooperators.


• Relevance: Structure matters more than size. A large economy works only if it

... See more

cooperation is not a permanent state but a dynamic equilibrium that requires constant maintenance—easier to manage in small, adaptable groups than large, rigid ones.

"But when cooperative strategies predominate, payoffs will rise as well," Stewart said. "With higher and higher payoffs at stake, the temptation to defect also rises. In a sense the cooperators are paving the way for their own demise."

Our vision is to transform scientific discovery from sporadic breakthroughs into a continuous, predictable process. Instead of waiting years between major advances, we envision AI systems that can sustain the kind of relentless momentum that drives paradigm shifts — not through individual moments of genius, but through systematic exploration.

Locus maintains consistent performance improvement up to several days by orchestrating thousands of experiments simultaneously. This massive parallelization enables a new type of scientific process, one that facilitates structured long-horizon exploration of unsolved problems