Generative systems are technologies with the overall capacity to produce unprompted change driven by large, varied, and uncoordinated audiences. When generative systems provide a common platform, changes may occur at varying layers (physical, network, application, content) and provide a means through which different firms and individuals may cooperate indirectly and contribute to innovation. Depending on the rules, the patterns can be extremely varied and unpredictable. One of the better-known examples is Conway's Game of Life, a cellular automaton. Other examples include Boids and Wikipedia. More examples can be found in generative music, generative art, in video games such as Spore, and more recently generative generosity and platforms like generos.io.

Theory

Jonathan Zittrain

In 2006, Jonathan Zittrain published The Generative Internet in Volume 119 of the Harvard Law Review. In this paper, Zittrain describes a technology's degree of generativity as being the function of four characteristics: