“The wisest men follow their own direction” Euripides

ATTRACT!

One of the philosophical propositions about the nature of the universe is that the
universe is deterministic! This means that if we were aware of everything that
happened in the past, we could predict the future using fundamental laws. This
thought has its roots both in western culture – it can be traced back to ancient
Greek philosophers, Leucippus and Democritus and eastern culture – it is part of
the Buddhist teaching called “dependant origination”. In this article, we will have
a look at entrepreneurship from this point of view.

On the surface, the idea that the universe is deterministic might make us uneasy,
because concepts like the existence of freewill, an assumption on which the
modern societies and legal systems are based become questionable. An article in
The Economisti states that in fact there may be no free will at all. The argument
was based on the story of a man with brain tumor. It opens as: “In the late 1990s
a previously blameless American began collecting child pornography and
propositioning children. On the day before he was due to be sentenced to prison
for his crimes, he had his brain scanned. He had a tumour. When it had been
removed, his paedophilic tendencies went away. When it started growing back,
they returned. When the regrowth was removed, they vanished again. Who then
was the child abuser?”

Also, a paper by Camerer, Loewenstein and Prelecii states “…But remarkable

advances in neuroscience now make direct measurement of thoughts and
feelings possible for the first time, opening the “black box” which is the building
block of any economic interaction and system—the human mind.”

The evidence presented in these two articles can be used to support the
assumption that the universe is deterministic. In this scheme, it is possible that
every outcome of every interaction can be predicted. We can’t actually predict
though, because we don’t know everything that has happened since the
beginning and we don’t know the fundamental laws. However, this doesn’t
change the fact that the outcomes are already determined. This fact leads us to
imagine that we are being pulled to certain outcomes; we are attracted by those
outcomes. Let’s see how the universe looks from this perspective:

There are many sub-universes within the universe, and for each,
interpretations of the fundamental laws are different. To make this point
more clear, let’s suppose that a computer is the whole universe and a
computer game is a sub-universe run inside of it. You may be moving
something, running or jumping in the game according to some rules of the
game, but those rules are the interpretation of the fundamental laws of the
computer- the assembly language (basic computer language composed of
1s and 0s). In this sense, business is a sub-universe with its own set of
interpretations of fundamental laws. Current economic theories seem to be
good interpretations of the fundamental laws for business -for now.

Let’s call everything inside the universe “elements”. The end is

predetermined according to determinism; let’s call that end the “master
attractor”. However, the master attractor may not be the only outcome,
 and some others may occur on the way. Let’s call these “attractors”. So,
the universe is a place where elements are attracted by attractors, and
everything is attracted by the master attractor. Attractors are a subset of
elements. Consider a metal ball and a strong magnet placed at a distance
from it on a table. The ball begins to roll to the magnet. If there are other
magnets placed around, the ball changes its direction according to their
effects, but everything will be moving to the strong magnet. Magnets are
attractors, the metal ball is an element, and the strong magnet is the
master attractor.

An attractor impacts how other elements reach the master attractor. They shape
the way to go. In this sense, they are a part of the change; they direct the
change, they lead the change in the universe. An element on the other hand just
adapts to changes and “follows”.

Entrepreneurs are element creators in the business universe. They establish

businesses which are new elements. However, an element that simply remains
an element won’t do much in the universe in terms of profits. It will just adapt to
the environment and “roll” in what path attractors draw for it. In order to have
some power and control over the environment (for more profits, for example), an
element must transform into an attractor. When the element becomes an
attractor, it can have an effect on shaping the change in the universe. This act of
becoming an attractor is called INNOVATION

The stronger you attract, the more control you have on the market, prices and
profits. As the strength of attraction increases, one can direct or lead the change,
or become the change itself. Think of MP3 players. No one sees Walkmans or
Discmans around anymore. MP3 players are the direction to go. MP3 players are
the change in the universe. They are the attractors, very strong ones in that part
of the universe.

Some Strategies for Attractors:

• Find elements that are weakly attracted and attract them. For example, in
Africa, banks give credit with really high interest rates. The entrepreneurs
in Africa are weakly attracted by these credits. Observing the situation, a
company called MYC4iii is established. This company finds credit for
entrepreneurs in Africa from the investors in Europe, with interest rates
less than that of those in Africa and more than that of those in Europe.
Both investors in Europe and entrepreneurs in Africa win as well as MYC4.

• The fewer attractors between an element and the master attractor, the
more opportunities in the market. Find them. Niches are very good
examples for this. In Turkey, a good example would be an HR Consulting
company which specializes on entry level positions. There are head
hunters for executives, and other HR companies specialized in periodic
jobs and mid-level management positions. Web portals also are inefficient
because they don’t offer any interview and evaluation of candidates; they
simply offer a CV database. So, an HR company specializing on entry level
positions may be successful.
 • Attract in such a way that other attractors can’t. Let’s turn again to MP3
players. Although they are the change, one specific brand, IPod has been
created and placed in the universe in such a way that it captured attention
of many elements in a way that many similar attractors (MP3 players)
couldn’t, and sold over 100 million units worldwideiv. Also Nintendo Wii, a
video game console is another good example. Wii offers the opportunity to
make the moves in the game to play it– for example; the player plays a
game of tennis physically swinging a racket to hit the ball!

• Enjoy Chaos! Actually, the biggest opportunities rise from chaotic

circumstances because what is seen in a chaotic environment is that no
center of attraction can be identified. Due to the nature of determinism,
there in fact must be attractors also in chaotic circumstances. Finding out
about these attractors is a huge advantage in creating opportunities out of
chaos.

From this perspective, entrepreneurs should try to be the change or shape the
future. From an out of the box view, this may be impossible, because everything
is “predetermined”, but put yourself in the shoes of an attractor; you can change
the direction of other elements in the universe and with right strategies, you can
shape the future! One very important point which leaves room for thinking is
that, attraction is a two way street; whatever attracts you is also attracted by
yourself!

Now let’s drop the assumption of determinism. Just replace any certainty in the
previous discussion with high probability outcomes, and the whole system still
works!

Ahmet Kurtaran

2008
i
“Free to Choose?” The Economist print edition-Dec 19th 2006

ii
Neuroeconomics: How Neuroscience Can Inform Economics
Camerer: California Institute of Technology. Loewenstein: Carnegie Mellon University. Prelec:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Journal of Economic LiteratureVol. XLIII (March 2005
iii
www.myc4.com

iv
Apple iPod Hits Sales Milestone Of 100 Million
The Wall Street Journal 10 April 2007 B3 English
(Copyright (c) 2007, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)