Mother Nature is the best system designer

I've been noticing lately that some of the most elegant end-to-end systems weren't designed by people. They were designed by Mother Nature, and they loop into each other in ways that feel seamless no matter how closely you look.

Take naturally occurring forest fires. There's a purpose to them. They clear old growth, return minerals to the soil, and trigger the next generation of trees to grow. One system's output is the next system's input, and nothing is wasted. Lovely.

Or look at reef-building coral. Tiny algae live inside its tissue. The coral gives them a protected place to live, and its waste provides nutrients they can use. The algae use sunlight to make food, and share that food with the coral. Something the coral has already used becomes part of what feeds it again.

And then the reef itself becomes a place for other things to live. Fish can hide, find food, and raise their young in all those little spaces. A relationship between two organisms helps create a home for so many more. I like how the usefulness keeps extending beyond the original exchange.

It makes me think about how we draw boundaries around the things we design. We get something working, but how much do we think about what happens to its output? Where does it go, who could use it, what could it help grow? I’d like to get better at following that a little further.