Agriculture
10 patterns in this domain
“Scatter many seeds, some will find soil”
3/8 frontierBet-Hedging
A salmon lays 3,000 to 5,000 eggs, each slightly different.
“Come here to compare, choose here to commit”
3/7 frontierCentralized Display Arena
Every spring on the sagebrush plains of western North America, male sage grouse gather on ancestral display grounds called leks.
“Neither privatize nor nationalize — govern together”
3/7 frontierCommons Governance
For decades, economists told a simple story: shared resources are doomed.
“Measure, adjust, repeat”
3/7 frontierFeedback Loop
In 1788, James Watt attached a pair of spinning metal balls to a steam engine.
“Test small before you go big”
3/7 frontierGraduated Rollout
In 1747, Scottish naval surgeon James Lind conducted what is often called the first clinical trial.
“Build the structure, and life will come”
3/7 frontierPlatform Ecosystem
A coral polyp is a simple organism — a tiny soft-bodied animal smaller than a pencil eraser.
“Announce once, reach many”
3/7 frontierPublish-Subscribe
The pattern is as old as communication itself.
“Say it twice so it survives the journey”
3/7 frontierRedundant Encoding
Before writing existed, humanity's most important knowledge was stored in human memory and transmitted orally.
“I give what you need, you give what I need”
3/7 frontierSymbiotic Exchange
Roughly two billion years ago, a large cell engulfed a small bacterium — but didn't digest it.
“Burn almost nothing — survive almost anything”
3/7 frontierTorpor
A hummingbird burns calories faster than almost any animal on Earth — its heart beats 1,200 times per minute, and it must eat constantly to survive.