Get Inside My Head

A restless mind is both a blessing and a curse; With thoughts that are constantly connecting and creating, always searching for a problem to solve. Divergent thinking is a catalyst for innovation; However, without knowledge and experience to pull from, the potential is limited. Life is full of complexities and uncharted waters. But, with a creative mind, situations become more navigable. Life will always throw out its versions of the “Riemann Hypothesis”; i.e. problems that are highly difficult to solve. This trial and tribulation births resilience, persistence, and a desire for innovation. I have learned that my greatest asset in life is my ability to think about, in, and outside the box. Solutions can be simple or complex, and usually without singularity. Just like life, innovative designing needs to be attacked from all angles and without fear of divergent ideas. 

Biology the First Designer

Nature has had 3.8 billion years to perfect its outputs. Although, nature is nowhere near perfect. Perfection is limiting and fails with absolutes. Change, is the driver behind success. Nature is in a constant state of flux that requires continual adjustments and pivots, or fails due to selection pressures. This analogy is applicable to all things in life, for example: Business. If a corporation does not adjust to account for market fluctuations and market trends, it is doomed to fail. In a constantly evolving world stagnation is not a placeholder, rather it is a regression. Many companies have been left in the dust because they focused on perfecting their archaic business models and fail to pivot to market “selection pressures”. The same goes for innovating, designing, and problem solving, the ability to pivot and modify is crucial to the process. It is natural to fear change and be intimidated by divergent ideas, however without risk comes no reward. It is easy to get caught up in perfection, but perfection is superseded by evolution. 

Through the study of biology, I have learned that nature is far more clever than myself and the rest of humanity could ever be. Humbled by this notion, I have learned to ask those more clever and experienced than myself, to aid in solutions. Biology is part of who we are, it makes up our person, our environment, and everything that is us and around us. The beauty lies in the fact that it will never be fully understood, eluding our understanding in the most ethereal of ways. The more we learn about it, the more the paradox of answer equates to more questions. As we discover, we ourselves evolve, enabling us to learn from life's wisest teacher. Looking towards the natural world for inspiration, application, and emulation, is the most advantageous avenue for forward thinking human designs. Nature has already cycled through the beta-testing phase of a biological strategy to generate the most effective and efficient mechanism within the context of it’s environment. To not utilize the most time tested approach to design, for the application of human problems, is frankly foolish.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Knowledge and ideas are contagious, having the ability to “infect” the minds of others, causing the “contagion” to filter through many perspectives. The genesis of a innovative idea lies within the seed of knowledge put there by others. The creation of a community of diverse divergent thinkers can create the perfect storm of innovation. Interdisciplinary collaboration encourages more seeds of knowledge to be processed through more filters. The caveat to this is that diversity lives between two contradicting realms, one of divisiveness, and one of a greater number of possibilities. When diversity is utilized to the greatest of its definition, innovators can collectively and holistically solve more complex problems, than one could do individually.  Humans are more than the sum of our parts. We have the ability to facilitate mutualism and homeostasis, but humans are often folly to our self-serving interests.

Final Thoughts

I wholeheartedly believe in looking towards nature to be used as the catalyst to solve many of the worlds challenges. We live in a time where the scales of homeostasis are being tested. Without the application of biodesign and biomimetic innovations, the scales of non-equilibrium will not be tipping in our favor.