view pdf about the productview video about the productchapter 8: “the art of thinking in a network: ideas and tools for a new way of dealing with complexity. a report to the club of rome", paperback, 384 pages, may 2002, 6th edition 2007)
biological design of products, processes and forms of organization through feedback planning.
biological design takes into account endogenous and exogenous rhythms, uses resonance and functional fits, harmonizes system dynamics and enables organic integration of new elements according to the eight basic rules.
the eighth rule means that every product, every function and organization that is intended to contribute to the survival of our species and not to its erosion and destruction must be compatible with the biology of humans and nature, i.e. correspond to the structure of systems capable of surviving. this is not only an ecological requirement, but increasingly also a psychological and - through the acceptance of goods and services - an economic requirement. it also extends, for example, to the architecture of our homes, which today generally no longer evoke any resonance with our own being - the brainchild of a detached generation of architects who want to realize themselves with them, but do not think about the people who should feel comfortable in them. with unbiological design - even in other areas - ultimately production always fails to meet needs and therefore the market. in any case, the bad planning due to decision-making processes that ignore this rule are countless.
fig. 41 maple leaf: irregularity in regularity - a basic principle of biological design more familiar and beneficial than geometric uniformity
for example, the expansion of global data networks, to take another example, in no way corresponds to biological design.
the truly promising uses of modern electronic forms of communication do not lie in a cancerous proliferation of increasingly networked information systems, as is suggested by the world wide web. on the contrary, dangers build up, especially in unstructured networks. as a biologist, the comparison with nature immediately comes to mind, where there is no direct connection between different organisms. neither blood circulation nor nervous systems are connected beyond the individual organism, and for good reason; because disruptions and errors in one place should, if possible, not be automatically transmitted to all others. it is not for nothing that nature has dispensed with an internet-like infrastructure. the increasing threat of computer viruses via the internet and email, which smuggle themselves into the bios center of the computer and, so to speak, decouple the memory structure of operating software, already shows the danger of such ubiquitous networking without boundaries.
in order to adhere to a biological design, the planning and design of our projects should never be done in isolation, but always in feedback with the local living environment. due to its greater efficiency, such an approach is more likely to lead to survivable systems than aloof constructivist planning.
Malik Management St.Gallen AG
Geltenwilenstrasse 16
CH-9001 St.Gallen
This product was added to our catalog on Friday 08 April, 2022.
