Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1168IR // #c1168Synthesis

"he saw a tiny spider's net suspended across his path. The idea immediately occurred to him, that a bridge of iron ropes or chains might be constructed in like manner" "Sir Isambert Brunel took his first lessons in forming the Thames Tunnel from the tiny shipworm"

— In our words · Source: Self-Help (Samuel Smiles)

[Use when]

You are designing a structure and haven't asked what in nature already solves it.

[Why it matters]

Three engineers, three borrowed designs: Brown's suspension bridge from a web, Watt's jointed river pipe from a lobster shell, Brunel's tunneling shield from a boring worm. Each was already studying the problem when he saw the model.

Filed under situations:When you’re building the thing, not just planning it

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