> getting so much from so little I feel the same way about directly using or mimicking systems of the natural world. Stuff like using birds as combined pest c

> getting so much from so little I feel the same way about directly using or mimicking systems of the natural world. Stuff like using birds as combined pest control and fertilizer or waste water treatment. I think we haven't even scratched the surface of what is possible, particularly with microbes. I envision things like producing glue, converting plant scraps into fibres/wood, converting toxins into inert compounds, extracting trace chemicals from a massive volume of useless medium. Right now I think the biggest obstacle to these kinds of techniques is the lack of control and the danger of escape and mutation. Just imagine if a plastic-eating bacterium escaped a waste facility and started eating our world. I hope that with better tools and better simulation we can make it work and make it safe. It would go a long way towards lowering our energy and resource use.