Socioeconomic systems may be conceived in the same vein as organisms: driven, replicated, non-equilibrium systems in a landscape of steady-states. Lifetimes and sustainability in such systems are parameterized by the capacity to represent and predict driving signals, and to use the energy contained in such signals to replicate successfully. Driving signals are the cycles of availability of input energy that drive systems out of equilibrium. Driven systems favour the formation of well-organize...