# Nature Builds Efficiently From the Bottom Up by Bryant McGill > “Nature builds from the bottom up. Plants assemble trees from small elements with remarkable efficiency, while human manufacturing often relies on heat, force, and waste. Cooperation resembles nature's elegant approach.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Emergence, Compounding Effort, and the Architecture of a Mission - Livestream (Aug 2016)* ## Sources and Context - **Authoritative developed source:** [[livestreams/Emergence, Compounding Effort, and the Architecture of a Mission - Livestream|Emergence, Compounding Effort, and the Architecture of a Mission - Livestream]] — the Reminder reproduces the complete marked quotation object without alteration. For this workflow, the developed livestream document is the source authority. - **Systems context:** The quotation contrasts distributed biological assembly with energy-intensive manufacturing and uses that contrast to illuminate cooperation. It is a design analogy about efficient construction from small interacting elements, not a claim that every natural process is cooperative or waste-free. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Quorum, the Holobiont, and the Mycelium|The Quorum, the Holobiont, and the Mycelium]] - **Article:** [[articles/A Diplomatic Approach to Symbiosis|A Diplomatic Approach to Symbiosis]] - **Livestream:** [[livestreams/Emergence, Compounding Effort, and the Architecture of a Mission - Livestream|Emergence, Compounding Effort, and the Architecture of a Mission - Livestream]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Biomimicry|Biomimicry]] - [[wiki/Self-Organization|Self-Organization]] - [[wiki/Cooperation|Cooperation]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Nature builds from the bottom up. Plants assemble trees from small elements with remarkable efficiency, while human manufacturing often relies on heat, force, and waste. Cooperation resembles nature's elegant approach.” — Bryant McGill, Emergence, Compounding Effort, and the Architecture of a Mission - Livestream (Aug 2016) https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-bryant-mcgill-nature-bottom-up ```