Biomimicry

As some of you know, I've been reading The Economist lately and I have to say, I'm really enjoying it. Yes, there are plenty of articles that easily fall into the "glib neo-lib paternalist" category and yes there's some neo-con shit-of-horses too but, honestly, that might be how I'd describe a lot of the New York Times as well (sans the regional New Yorker smugness). And at least The Economist owns their politics. Even the conservative writers present a direct argument for conservatism (ie/ "I am fundamentally selfish and don't care if others suffer so suck it Non-Me's!" as opposed to "Government intervention is a crime against God and Nature when it comes to taxes and guns but not so much when it comes to abortion, marriage, immigration and international policy" which makes no sense.)

I might also find it enjoyable because it reminds me of a 19th-century London Times with its survey of news from around the world and emphasis on commodity trades. It even puts Canadian news in an international perspective and that's refreshing.

Also, they run articles about new technology meant to tease the industrialist, not excite the techno-geek, and I can appreciate these a lot better than the NYT m.o. of listing the features of the new iPhone. I keep thinking about one article in particular from a few months ago:

Print Me a Stradivarius! The Printed World: Three-dimensional printing from digital designs will transform manufacturing and allow more people to start making things

Isn't that fucking amazing?

Another thing that is blowing my mind:

Biomimicry in manufacturing. That is, designing products to mimic how things are done in the natural world rather than trying to achieve the same results through another method. For example, instead of using non-water-soluble chemicals to impose a color on a wall for all time, the biomimcry approach would be to try to devise a way to create wall treatments that mimic how butterfly-wings and bird feathers achieve vibrant coloring - by manipulating light rather than through imposing pigment, in other words.

Isn't that fucking amazing?

I know it's so 1851 to imagine that industry and capitalism will save us all - or, conversely, that if we just hang on tight the revolution should get here any second - but even Marx didn't conceive of a world without manufacturing. At some point in my life, about 67 years ago, I was interested in biology and biochemistry and shit because the natural world seemed cool but that was quickly beaten out of me by the BSc mill at the University of Calgary. Now I remember what I liked about it!

In other news, the Azerbaijani ambassador is coming to my house for a potluck on Tuesday. I don't even know what to say about that except wtf. Wonder if I'll have enough chairs and cutlery.