Biomimicry
Is this really natural? Isn't there something unnatural about it? When I feel something off about the events before me, my words, or my attitude, I ask myself this question.
Sometimes I immediately realize the source of the discomfort. But more often than not, a little thought isn't enough to understand it. And then I forget about it.
Ignoring this unease leads to regret. Experience shows this. Troublesome or irreversible situations always lie ahead.
The unnatural feeling is an alert. It's what they call a premonition.
An old poet living in the mountains came to the city and lamented that the view from his hotel window was nothing but straight lines. The things seen in the fields and mountains have freer and more individual shapes, he said. Like Prometheus's fire, straight lines have also brought benefits to humanity. They are easy to handle, efficient, and have facilitated standardization and mass production. But if misused, they will cause serious problems someday, he said prophetically.
Modern humans appeared 200,000 years ago. After an unimaginably long time, civilization arose in the Middle East 5,000 years ago. The Age of Discovery and the Reformation began 500 years ago, and about 250 years ago, the Industrial and Political Revolutions occurred. Humanity, which numbered only 19 million 5,000 years ago, grew to 230 million 2,000 years ago, 300 million 1,000 years ago, 500 million 500 years ago, 1 billion 200 years ago, over 1.5 billion 100 years ago, 6 billion 25 years ago, and now 8 billion, increasing exponentially.
Life first appeared on this Earth 3.8 billion years ago. More than 99 percent of all species that have ever appeared no longer exist. In other words, extinction is also a natural law. Humanity is probably no exception.
There have been many life forms that have reproduced far more and existed longer than humans. Especially fungi, plants, marine life, and insects have contributed to ecosystems and lived alongside this planet (can humanity be said to contribute to the ecosystem?). There is a biomechanism that uses neither fire nor straight lines, and it seems to be attracting renewed attention now. Because humanity, which has neglected coexistence with other life forms or others, has things to learn.
I wonder if art should not only focus on humans, and with that thought, I imitate organic shapes (with my own uncertain interpretation). Still, since I am human, I am concerned about humans. If human social systems and order have been created through firepower and linear thinking, isn't it possible that something has been overlooked because of that?
May 2025
Mario Tauchi
