[bvw]

One thing that has stood out to me about bio-systems (and eco-systems at a different level of organization) is how incredibly "folded" they are. One thing is reused in different ways, performs radically different things at different places in the metabolic cycle or the development cycle. Used to see similar development in program coding before that vicious code-Nazi Dykstra (did I spell that name right) wrote "Go To's Considered Harmful." Sometimes you'll see it in old analog circuitry.

The amazing thing is that great writing, great art, great music is full of such foldings. And so should great engineering be. But rare to find it.

[balrog666]

And how many pixies can dance on the head of a mallet?

[betty boop]

Wonderful insight, bvw! Not to mention the folding of proteins....

I had a weird dream a couple weeks ago. Often i dream of graphical objects. i haven't got a clue why, but i do. And in the dream, I understood that what i was looking at was a representation of the Universe. I can't describe the image in words, except to say that it was folded back on itself. To put it in a nutshell, I really don't understand what I saw. But I got to thinking about the etymology of the word, "universe": Literally, from the Latin roots, the word means "one turn" -- "uni" + "verso." Or loosely (to my way of thinking) "to turn back on one's self," i.e., to fold. Go figure!!! :^)

I'm still wondering about it. Fun for speculation!

Thanks so much for writing, bvm!