Hi Doug,
I'm very pleased that you liked my approach, as you appear to be the only other author to apply a physics metaphor to the problem.
We do agree on the central point of your essay, which is to 'try all paths' instead of a centralized command and control.
You mentioned that the path integral approach is a very close connection to thermodynamics/statistical mechanics. I have recently re-awakened to the fact that the Wick rotation will convert the partition function into a path integral and vice versa. I've spent some time on this amazing fact, and I plan to spend more.
Perhaps we can continue this discussion offline.
Congratulations on your current well-deserved high ranking in the contest.
By the way I received the 23 May 2014 issue of 'Science' in the mail this morning. It has a whole special section dedicated to "the Science of Inequality". There may be a new field budding.
My best regards
Edwin Eugene Klingman