S-curves are typical of biological growth: replication of a system of relatively fixed complexity (such as an organism of a particular species), operating in a competitive niche and struggling for finite local resources. This often occurs, for example, when a species happens upon a new hospitable environment. Its numbers will grow exponentially for a while before leveling off. The overall exponential growth of an evolutionary process (whether molecular, biological, cultural, or technological) supersedes the limits to growth seen in any particular paradigm (a specific S-curve) as a result of
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