Abstract
Life has existed on earth for at least 3.95 billion years. All along, the flame of life has been successfully passed on from generation to generation, and species to species across an immense temporal span. This includes at least five mass-extinction events that wiped out over 70% of all species in each such biotic crisis. Against such immense odds, life has learned to thrive despite repeat assaults. And the ingenuity embedded within natures designs has been an integral part of this inspiring story. For example, the ancient bacterial flagellum is powered by the Mot Complex which is part of a perfectly circular nanoscale rotary engine. It is obvious that nature came upon the wheel much before human arrival (i.e., at least as far back as 2.7 billion years). Many are the design lessons that may be gleaned from studying nature. This paper looks at the immense evolutionary design-laboratory that nature evolves its designs within, and frames it along side an Axiomatic/Complex-Adaptive/Stigmergic Systems perspective.
Highlights
Form and function are discernable across the biological order; for example, form in anatomy and its corresponding function in physiology
From recent evidence of microbial by-products found in rocks from north-eastern Canada, it is clear that life has existed for at least 3.95 billion years [17]
This exercise needs to be done with meticulous care using tools from disciplines such as complex adaptive systems, datasciences, bio-informatics, and phylogenetics
Summary
Form and function are discernable across the biological order; for example, form in anatomy and its corresponding function in physiology. From a design perspective (and subject to environment/precedent constraints), form seems to be following function (e.g., the elbow joint of the fore-arm for bringing food to the mouth). While the act of design implies a purposeful designer, biological “designs” operate bereft of such agency, and explicit intent. This helps bring biological designs into the normal design discourse.
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