The Genealogy of Biomimetics: Half a Century’s Quest for Dynamic IT

Abstract. Biologically inspired approaches to the design of general IT are pres-ently flourishing. Investigating the scientific and historical roots of the tendency will serve to prepare properly for future biomimetic work. This paper explores the genealogy of the contemporary biological influence on science, design and culture in general to determine the merits of the tendency and lessons to learn. It is argued that biomimetics rests on bona fide scientific and technical reasons for the pursuit of dynamic IT, but also on other more external factors, and that biomimetics should differentiate the relevant from the superficial. Furthermore the search for dynamic capacities of IT that mimicking adaptive processes can bring about is put forward as both the history and raison d’être of biomimetics. 1 Lifelike – á la Mode Biology is enjoying enormous attention from different scientific fields as well as culture in general these days. Examples are legion: The victorious naturalization proj-ect in philosophy and psychology spearheaded by cognitive science in the second half of the 20th century; the exploration of biological structures in the engineering of ma