THE HIDDEN CONNECTIONS - SUPERORGANISATIONS: LEARNING FROM NATURE'S NETWORKS
Fritjof Capra, in his book ‘The Hidden Connections’ applies aspects of complexity theory, particularly the analysis of networks, to global capitalism and the state of the world; and eloquently argues the case that social systems such as organisations and networks are not just like living systems – they are living systems. The concept and theory of living systems (technically known as autopoiesis) was introduced in 1972 by Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela.
This is a complete version of a ‘long-blog’ written by Al Kennedy on behalf of ‘The Nature of Business’ blog and BCI: Biomimicry for Creative Innovation http://thenatureofbusiness.org/2012/08/15/superorganisations-learning-from-natures-networks/
Biomimicry Institute
-▶ BIOMIMICRY GLOBAL DESIGN CHALLENGE
The Biomimicry Institute’s Global Design Challenge invites students and independent professionals to address critical sustainability issues using nature as a guide http://challenge.biomimicry.org/en/
Smithsonian Magazine
▶ HOW BIOMIMICRY IS INSPIRING HUMAN INNOVATION: Creative Minds Are Increasingly Turning to Nature - Banyan tree leaves, butterfly wings, a bird's beak -- for fresh design solutions http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/How-Biomimicry-is-Inspiring-Human-Innovation-165592706.html
June 17, 2013 Global Possibilities
▶ BEST OF BIOMIMICRY http://www.globalpossibilities.org/best-of-biomimicry/
Solar Daily, September 19, 2014
-▶ NATURE'S DESIGNS INSPIRE RESEARCH INTO NEW LIGHT-BASED TECHNOLOGIES http://www.solardaily.com/reports/Natures_designs_inspire_research_into_new_light_based_technologies_999.html
Sustainable Brands, January 2, 2014
-▶ SUSTAINABILITY AS AN EMERGENT PROPERTY: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE SUPER-ORGANISMS? http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/collaboration/victoria-kindred-keziah/sustainability-emergent-property-what-can-we-le
Stanford Social Innovation Review, June 17, 2014
-▶ LOOKING TO NATURE FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION. If we foster new skills, tools, and techniques to explore and unearth the latent knowledge within and around us, then we can tap into a whole new source of ideas and inspiration for people solving social problems. http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/looking_to_nature_for_social_innovation
NATURE HAS THE ANSWERS
WHOLE SYSTEMS DESIGN BY NATURE
WE ARE SURROUNDED BY GENIUS
http://sco.lt/7maN5V
Conservation - University of Washington
▶ DESIGN GENIUS - NATURE'S MOST ELEGANT DESIGNS MAY HOLD THE KEY TO SUPER-EFFICIENT, ECO-FRIENDLY TECHNOLOGY http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2011/09/design-genius/
MIMICKING NATURE
ORGANIZE LIKE ANTS TO MOVE MOUNTAINS
http://sco.lt/5DcYXh
WATCH
Amani TV (3:31)
WHAT IS BIO-EMPATHY?
Looking to Nature For Social Innovation and Answers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-RnzGDdJi0
TED TALKS
THE WORLD'S BEST CREATIVE DIRECTOR : NATURE
http://ideas.ted.com/2014/02/07/nature-knows-best-a-biologist-and-a-designer-take-creative-direction-from-the-earths-operating-system/
January 28, 2013, Sustainable Brands
-▶ IN NATURE, MYRIAD LESSONS FOR EFFECTIVE SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP, http://www.scoop.it/t/environmental-and-human-health/p/3995631889/in-nature-myriad-lessons-for-effective-sustainability-leadership-sustainable-brands
▶ COMPANIES THAT MIMIC NATURE OUT-PERFORM THOSE THAT DO NOT http://sco.lt/76twrB
Terra Daily, September 25, 2014
▶ TERMITES EVOLVED COMPLEX BIOREACTORS 30 MILLION YEARS AGO http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Termites_evolved_complex_bioreactors_30_million_years_ago_999.html
Guardian Sustainable Business, September 04, 2014
▶ WATCHING APES COULD HELP MAKE HUMANS BEHAVE MORE SUSTAINABLY http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/behavioural-insights/2014/sep/04/watching-apes-humans-behave-sustainably-social-biomimicry
The Tyee, February 18, 2012
▶ HUMANS NEED NOT BE ENEMIES OF HEALTHY ECOSYSTEMS http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Environment/2012/02/18/Humans_need_not_be_enemies/
- ▶ A CULTURE SEPARATED FROM NATURE CANNOT SURVIVE: BANKRUPTING NATURE http://sco.lt/994B8L
WATCH
QUEST TV
Bio-Inspiration: Nature as Muse
THE EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCE OF NATURE
ANSWERS FOR THE FUTURE
http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/bio-inspiration-nature-as-muse/
InHabitat, June 29, 2014
▶ WHAT CAN DUNG BEETLES TEACH US ABOUT THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY? http://inhabitat.com/the-biomimicry-manual-what-can-dung-beetles-teach-us-about-the-circular-economy/
THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY:
A NEW WAY OF THINKING AND DOING BUSINESS
http://sco.lt/7LEPtR
Guardian, February 17, 2014
-▶ WILL THE BUILDINGS OF THE FUTURE BE GROWN UNDERWATER? In a new exhibition, Michael Pawlyn lays out his vision for architecture inspired by the natural world – including bio-rock buildings grown entirely underwater and whole office blocks being lit by learning from the blind sea star. http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/feb/17/buildings-future-underwater-nature-architecture-michael-pawlyn-exhibition?CMP=twt_fd
A TED VIDEO
Louie Schwartzberg: TED.com
"HIDDEN MIRACLES OF THE NATURAL WORLD"
We live in a world of unseeable beauty, so subtle and delicate that it is imperceptible to the human eye. To bring this invisible world to light, filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg bends the boundaries of time and space with high-speed cameras, time lapses and microscopes.
http://www.ted.com/talks/louie_schwartzberg_hidden_miracles_of_the_natural_world
▶ INVESTING LIKE AN ECOSYSTEM: NO TO BIODIVERSITY OFFSETTING: NATURE IS PRICELESS http://sco.lt/7xzjKj
VIDEO
Down To Earth, France 24, June 12, 2014
BIOMIMCRY: HACKING NATURE (10:50)
Architecture and Biologically-Inspired Engineering
DOWN TO EARTH: Biomimicry is the science of mimicking life. Have millions of years of evolution churned out all the answers? Down to Earth explores how biologically-inspired engineering is changing the way we innovate. From aircraft manufacturing, architecture for urban living, to reproducing synthetic spider silk, research and development laboratories are turning to nature for solutions. Proponents say the best recipes for innovation already exist and we just need to look around us. http://www.france24.com/en/20140609-down-to-earth-biomimicry-nature-technology-architecture-biology-engineering-airbus/
Paul4innovating's Blog, January 19, 2014
-▶ INNOVATION IS LIKE A TROPICAL RAINFOREST http://paul4innovating.com/2014/01/19/innovation-is-like-a-tropical-rainforest/
WATCH:
"UNWASTED: THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS ON EARTH"
Free Documentary Online
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/unwasted-future-business-earth/
The Nature of Business, November 26, 2013
-▶ WHERE'S THE VISION FOR THE FUTURE? ... WHAT'S THE NEW PARADIGM? http://thenatureofbusiness.org/2013/11/26/wheres-the-vision-for-the-future-whats-the-new-paradigm/
Upside, February 28, 2013
▶ A CORPORATION SHOULD BE MORE THAN A MONEY COW.
We need a new market system according to Pavan Sukhdev, founder/CEO of GIST Advisory. A market that is not set on just financial success but for once focuses on the whole picture http://www.upsides.com/2013/02/28/why-a-corporation-should-be-so-much-more-than-a-money-cow/
▶ THE EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS: HOW A NEW BUSINESS ERA INSPIRED BY NATURE, NOT GREED, CAN BENEFIT US ALL http://sco.lt/97vmc5
WATCH
AWESOME! BIODIVERSITY VISUALIZED
Vancouver Film School
http://sco.lt/5dcRur
SUMMARY TRANSCRIPT
NPR FreshAir, February 12, 2014
Interview With Elizabeth Kolbert, Author
▶ IN THE WORLD'S "SIXTH EXTINCTION": ARE HUMANS THE ASTEROID? Elizabeth Kolbert is the author of the new book The Sixth Extinction. It begins with a history of the "big five" extinctions of the past, and goes on to explain how human behavior is creating this sixth one — including our use of fossil fuels and the effects of climate change.
"We are effectively undoing the beauty and the variety and the richness of the world which has taken tens of millions of years to reach," Kolbert tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "... We're sort of unraveling that. ... We're doing, it's often said, a massive experiment on the planet and we really don't know what the end point is going to be." http://www.npr.org/2014/02/12/275885377/in-the-worlds-sixth-extinction-are-humans-the-asteroid
Live Science, February 10, 2014
- ▶ LAST TIME, IT TOOK 60,000 YEARS TO KILL NEARLY EVERYTHING ON EARTH: WE'RE DOING IT IN 250 YEARS http://www.livescience.com/43245-permian-mass-extinction-duration.html
- ▶ CONSERVING OUR BIODIVERSITY IS BECOMING DEPENDENT ON IT DESTRUCTION - NO TO BIODIVERSITY CARBON OFFSETTING http://sco.lt/6ZjXGr
-▶ A GREEN COMMON-BASED GOVERNANCE: THE RIGHT TO A CLEAN AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT FOR ALL SPECIES http://sco.lt/8qokwj
===============================
AN URGENT MEMO TO THE WORLD
The Natural Eye Project
http://thenaturaleye.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/an-urgent-memo-to-the-world/
ECOLOGICAL ARMAGEDDON
EXTINCTION CRISIS
WE HAVE DISAPPEARED HALF OF THE WORLD'S WILD ANIMALS IN 40 YEARS: http://sco.lt/8fK5eT
WATCH
"HOME"
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
An Exquisite Dedication To the Stewards of Our Planet
Solutions For A Sustainable Planet
http://thenaturaleye.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/home-an-exquisite-story-of-our-world/
Via
ddrrnt,
Spaceweaver,
David Hodgson,
pdjmoo
Fritjof Capra, in his book ‘The Hidden Connections’ applies aspects of complexity theory, particularly the analysis of networks, to global capitalism and the state of the world; and eloquently argues the case that social systems such as organisations and networks are not just like living systems, they are living systems. This parallel relationship between nature and technical complex systems Kelly describes as “vivi-systems” and he proposes that the “world of the made will soon be like the world of the born: autonomous, adaptable, and creative but, consequently out of our control. ” The hyper connection and web of life we can now experience through the use of digital tools and platforms will allow us to circumnavigate the old paradigm and develop for the collective greater good.
So how can we look to nature and use Biomimicry to help us optimise our groups and organisational communications to create real value in our social networks, to build or shape networked businesses that are built for resilience?
A great resource in the Decision Intelligence for Sustainability space.
YOU ARE INVITED TO FOLLOW MY NEWS AGGREGATES @pdjmoo
▶ CLIMATE CHANGE http://www.scoop.it/t/changingplanet
▶ BIODIVERSITY http://www.scoop.it/t/biodiversity-is-life
▶ OUR OCEANS http://www.scoop.it/t/our-oceans-need-us
▶ OUR FOOD http://www.scoop.it/t/agriculture-gmos-pesticides