Ecology
-
Your system is running out of room
What ecology’s carrying capacity theory can teach us about detecting collapse before it happens. In 1944, 29 reindeer were introduced to St Matthew Island off the coast of Alaska. There were no predators. There was abundant lichen. By 1963, the population had grown to around 6,000. Then, in a single winter, it crashed to 42.…
-
Ecosystem! The word of the year so far!
The word I’ve heard most at the end of 2025 and into 2026? Ecosystem. It’s everywhere. AI ecosystems. Data ecosystems. Partner ecosystems. Platform ecosystems. And honestly? It warms my heart. Not because I called it (I didn’t), but because we’ve collectively arrived at exactly the right word. There’s something happening here, an intuitive recognition that…
-
What is ecology?
Nature Has Been Running Complex Systems for 3.8 Billion Years. Maybe It’s Time We Paid Attention I want to start with a rock pool. Not a metaphor. An actual rock pool, the kind you’d find on a beach, roughly the size of a bathtub, filled with a centimetre or two of cold seawater and whatever…
-
How Technology and Ecology Overlap
Technology architecture and ecology might seem like two very different worlds, but they share a lot of the same core ideas: interconnected systems, resource flows, and the need to adapt to changing conditions. Both are about finding the sweet spot between stability and innovation in a world that never sits still. Biodiversity and resilience in…