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Nature has a millions of years head start in engineering. We've figured a lot out in a short time, but everything we do is very heavy and inefficient by compari

Nature has a millions of years head start in engineering. We've figured a lot out in a short time, but everything we do is very heavy and inefficient by comparison. Ruby-throated hummingbirds, for example, migrate 500 miles over the Gulf of Mexico in a single flight. Imagine trying to build a drone that weighs 20 grams and can fly 500 miles. We've got a lot to figure out in terms of intelligence, energy efficiency, and material science.

matthewmcg 5y ago
Hummingbird metabolism is incredible. At night, when they can't constantly feed, certain species go into a deep topor state to avoid starving. See https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/science/hummingbirds-torpor-hibernation.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/science/hummingbirds-torp...
liftm 5y ago
Nah. Trains e.g. sure are heavy, but they're also ridiculously energy efficient when it comes to moving stuff around. And yet they're also typically faster than any land animal. Building roads or tracks doesn't make sense for animals, and freely rotating parts difficult on larger organisms. On the flip side, our human engineering often hasn't put energy efficiency so high up the priority list.
- micromacrofoot 5y ago
  Oh sure, rail is great... but you can't exclude the amount of energy that goes into things like laying tracks, paving roads, and maintaining engines. Plus most of them still use human operators. Even considering land animals, look at African Elephants. They can walk for days without water and weigh ~6,000 - 10,000lbs. Considerably slower than a truck with a similar weight, but still likely several times more efficient traveling over unpaved dirt. We optimize for different things, and can be more efficient under very specific circumstances (consider Voyager, for example :P). But when it comes to packing efficiency into a small package we don't hold a candle to nature. We'll get there eventually, and much faster than evolution did, but our technology is still in its infancy. Consider brains! What you get out of even a tiny mouse brain is bonkers when you consider what little fuel it needs.
twobitshifter 5y ago
Or build me a machine that can roll vs build me a machine that can walk uphill. What nature gave is actually much harder for anyone to engineer. We landed on solutions that are conceptually simple and then built from there. Nature didn’t have that benefit.

matthewmcg 5y ago

Hummingbird metabolism is incredible. At night, when they can't constantly feed, certain species go into a deep topor state to avoid starving. See https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/science/hummingbirds-torpor-hibernation.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/science/hummingbirds-torp...

liftm 5y ago

Nah. Trains e.g. sure are heavy, but they're also ridiculously energy efficient when it comes to moving stuff around. And yet they're also typically faster than any land animal. Building roads or tracks doesn't make sense for animals, and freely rotating parts difficult on larger organisms. On the flip side, our human engineering often hasn't put energy efficiency so high up the priority list.

micromacrofoot 5y ago
Oh sure, rail is great... but you can't exclude the amount of energy that goes into things like laying tracks, paving roads, and maintaining engines. Plus most of them still use human operators. Even considering land animals, look at African Elephants. They can walk for days without water and weigh ~6,000 - 10,000lbs. Considerably slower than a truck with a similar weight, but still likely several times more efficient traveling over unpaved dirt. We optimize for different things, and can be more efficient under very specific circumstances (consider Voyager, for example :P). But when it comes to packing efficiency into a small package we don't hold a candle to nature. We'll get there eventually, and much faster than evolution did, but our technology is still in its infancy. Consider brains! What you get out of even a tiny mouse brain is bonkers when you consider what little fuel it needs.

twobitshifter 5y ago

Or build me a machine that can roll vs build me a machine that can walk uphill. What nature gave is actually much harder for anyone to engineer. We landed on solutions that are conceptually simple and then built from there. Nature didn’t have that benefit.