Richard Smalley, a nanotech pioneer and Nobel prize winner for the discovery of Buckyballs died last week. Nanotechnology Now:
"Smalley was fond of pointing out that the machinery of life itself, at the most basic level of DNA and protein encoding, draws its power from controlling matter with atomic precision. He coined the term "wet" nanotechnology to apply to the biological systems that operate at the nanoscale and "dry" nanotechnology to the physical/chemical systems that nanotechnologists were developing. At one point in the early years following the discovery of buckyballs, he said that biology was the only working nanotechnology. His vision was to work at the interface between these wet and dry systems - the wet/dry interface - to bring the range of systems that could be generated in the dry realm to bear on the wet world of biology and to create entirely new systems."
This focus on synthesis of domains and learning from biology reminds me of Christopher Alexander's work, particularly his latest series "Nature of Order" which among other things:
"examines the kinds of process that are capable of generating living structure. The unfolding of living structure in natural systems is first compared to the unfolding of buildings and town plans in traditional society, and then contrasted with present day processes. The comparison reveals deep and shocking problems which pervade the present day planning and construction of buildings. He describes the detailed character of living process needed to generate, design, plan, and build buildings with living structure. "
Alexander's influence on software has been huge from everything from OO & Design Patterns to Will Wright (Sims) and Wikis. Powerful ideas find their homes in a variety of contexts.