In contrast to companies, cities generate more Innovation per capita the larger they are because they “tolerate crazy people”Geoffrey West, quoted in Brand (2011). .
This is because Irrational behaviour is adaptive in stochastic environments – in the long run, there is a Selection pressure to keep “crazy” beliefs in the mix for a population to stay adaptive, i.e. rational.
References
- Brand (2011), “Superlinear Cities”