Biomimesis

Biomimesis = copying the principles of life into technology, so as to re-integrate technology into life

Description

"The concept of Biomimesis is founded on the idea of the imitation of Nature at a time of reconstruction of human productive systems. Biomimesis is a strategy of reinsertion of human systems in natural systems. It rests on the hypothesis that evolution has identified, over time, optimal solutions, and that living beings have reached functional perfection which can be studied or imitated. The goal is to reintegrate the technosphere into the biosphere. The study of the latter can be a source of ideas for changes that should be made in the former. In the natural cyclical economy, every waste product of a process is converted into the primary matter of another process : cycles are closed. On the contrary, the capitalist industrial economy is linear, with respect to the fluxes of matter and energy : resources are disconnected from waste products, and cycles do not close. The idea of Biomimesis is closely linked to the principle of precaution, and that of sustainability." (http://multitudes.samizdat.net/Biomimesis-elements-pour-une.html)

More Information

French-language artice by Jorge Riechmann in Multitudude 24, athttp://multitudes.samizdat.net/Biomimesis-elements-pour-une.html