“Everything around us is scale dependent. It’s woven into the fabric of the universe.”*…
What do you, your town, and your employer all have in common? Scalability. According to physicist Geoffrey West, there are mathematical principles that govern the growth and longevity of complex organisms, crowded cities, and even corporations…
A fascinating interview with West about his new book, Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies: “What Do Organisms, Crowded Cities, and Corporations Have in Common?”
See West talk about his work in a the Long Now Seminar.
[TotH to @jhagel]
* Geoffrey West
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As we get small, we might send illuminated birthday greetings to John Walker; he was born on this date in 1781. A chemist from Stockton-on-Tees, Walker invented friction matches in 1827; he had accidentally discovered their “secret” the prior year when he mixed potassium chlorate and antimony sulfide, which he bound to a sulphur-coated stick (with gum).
He recorded the first sale as “Sulphurata Hyper-Oxygenata Frict,” but by the second sale (five months later), he was getting the hang of naming: “friction lights.” He sold them in boxes of 50 for a shilling, with a folded slip of sandpaper as a striking surface. He ultimately trade-named them “Congreves,” in honor of Sir William Congreve, known for his invention of military rockets.
A tin Congreves matchbox (1827)