In my last post, I talked about biomimicry as the answer to most of our human problems. Some of those problems include information dissemination, joint knowledge creation and relationship management.  By looking at the insect world, we can and have solved many of these problems.

The insect world seems chaotic, but in reality it is a self-organizing, redundant, highly specialized, centrally managed system.  Colonies of ants and bees, for example, look like chaotic swarms, but in reality their queens give the orders, specialized workers carry out those orders and have backup systems, like chemical trails or poisons, which allow for problems, like invasion or weather, to be surmounted without damaging the overall system.  Individuals “know” each other through their scents or chemical signature and can share experiences and collaborate together once identified as “friends.  Is this beginning to sound familiar?  They may not have perfected smell-o-vision on the Internet yet, but once I “know” who you are, I can “friend” or “follow” you on any number of networking systems today.

Just like in the insect world, the systems we are creating are as diverse as the insects on this planet.  Their diversity stems from how the systems are being used and by whom.  For example, Facebook versus LinkedIn or Twitter versus Yammer where the difference is primarily between personal and business networks. Some of these networks are to ensure relationships are not lost and we can keep up with each other as we move from job to job or place to place.  I’ve found a number of people from school and past jobs through these networks that I never would have otherwise.  Others are focused on sharing information or on collaborating together to develop new knowledge.

I believe there are also classes of users who by using these systems differently are creating sub-systems within the larger network.  Take Twitter users for example.  There are many who use it as a global IM client.  Personally, I find this annoying when done all the time as that information is usually not relevant to more than one or two people.  I often “unfollow” very quickly if that’s all that’s coming across.  Others use it to ask questions or describe thoughts or describe live events as they unfold.  I liken this to the bee that has found a jackpot of pollen and wants every bee to know. My goal is to find jackpot bees from many different gardens so that my Twitterverse is diverse and highly valuable.

I have been finding that for many of the same reasons these technologies are so popular outside of business organizations, they are failing inside those same organizations.  It may be the self-organizing nature of the systems or the perceived lack of control over the information flowing through the system which worries businesses, regardless it is failing in most established businesses.

This year’s TED conference included a talk by Tim Berners-Lee where he spoke of information management being the next big issue to tackle as we tackled the WWW.  This is also true within businesses.  Too many assume all of their information is confidential and thus must be under lock and key, when in reality very little of it is.  It is my hypothesis that this fear of the truly unknown (ie information) is what is preventing a lot of social networking and collaboration from occurring  productively within businesses today.  How do we fix this?

I have never really understood, with our early and continuous fascination with Nature, how we as a species find ourselves so far from it.  There is little that we produce or create that actually works within Nature.  From our houses and skyscrapers to our modes of transportation to the clothing on our backs and even to the foods we eat, we design, create and deliver little resembling that which is natural, regardless of marketing claims.  (we now have commercials for high-fructose corn syrup for goodness sake!)

The concept of biomimicry is to look to Nature when faced with a challenge and see if it, or something like it, has already been solved, instead of starting from scratch. By applying this concept, we will almost always find the answer.

Science has begun to apply biomimicry (aka biomimetics) in the design of new products or the solving of old problems. The most publicized example, I believe, was the coverage lavished on Speedo’s Fastskin suits, designed from the unique principles of shark skin, which swimmers began wearing during the 2000 Olympics. Close to 80% of the swimming medals that year were won by those wearing those kinds of suits. Solar lilypads in Glasgow, the stickiness of Gecko feet and the constant change of birds wings while in flight are recent examples I have stumbled across.

These are great applications of biomimicry, but as is recommended in “Natural Capitalism,” it is in the processes of Nature where we need to pay special attention in order to deliver true sustainability for the human race.  In nature, no matter what is happening, there are no waste products as there are in our own processes. Nature creates a zero sum equation, as in the carbon cycle of the earth.  It is our own input of too much of some parts of this cycle that is throwing off the equilibrium of the earth and causing climate change. Our goal must be to better mimic Nature’s own processes, or at leat Her zero sum equations, in order to bring back the equilibrium we have so dangerously altered.

The Able Project in the UK is a prime example of such thinking.  The short version is this, “From Cardboard to Caviar”:

• used cardboard from restaurants & shops picked up –>
• shredded cardboard recycled for horse bedding –>
• used bedding added to worm farm compost piles –>
• compost collected and added to plant beds & extra worms fed to sturgeon fish farm –>
• caviar is then harvested from the sturgeon and sold back to the restaurants

What other problems exist where we can apply biomimicry soltutions? What other biomimicry solutions are out there already in the works?