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🌳 MASTERCLASS 🤖

A 90-Minute Workshop on Stealing Ideas

8 min read·1,702 words

COPY NATURE

A 90-Minute Workshop on Stealing Ideas

from Earth's 3.8 Billion Year R&D Department


⏱️ 90 minutes \| 🎯 4 activities \| 🧠 0 prior knowledge needed \| 😂 Several bad puns


😏 "We've spent 200 years trying to outsmart nature. Turns out she's been acing the test for 3.8 billion years and we never thought to look at her notes."

Facilitator Guide + Participant Worksheets Included


Time	Section	Format
0:00-0:10	🎬 The Pitch: Why Copy Nature?	Presentation + Video
0:10-0:25	🔄 The Spiral: 6 Steps to Steal Ideas	Interactive Demo
0:25-0:40	🎯 Activity 1: Biologize Your Problem	Individual + Pairs
0:40-0:55	🤖 AI Translation Tools Demo	Live Demo
0:55-1:10	🎯 Activity 2: Nature Speed Dating	Group Activity
1:10-1:25	🎯 Activity 3: Design Your Emulation	Team Challenge
1:25-1:30	🚀 Your Homework: 30-Day Conversion	Wrap-up

Open with this mind-bender:


😏 Meanwhile, our cities can't go 3 days without a garbage truck or everything falls apart.

Key talking points:

Nature has been solving problems for 3.8 BILLION years
Every organism alive today is a success story—it figured out how to survive
We've been reinventing wheels that evolution perfected eons ago
Now AI can translate biology into engineering specs—the library is finally searchable

Walk through each step with a running example (cooling a building):


Step	What You Do	Example
1. DEFINE	State your human problem clearly	"I need to cool a building cheaply"
2. BIOLOGIZE	Reframe as a function nature performs	"How does nature regulate temperature?"
3. DISCOVER	Find organisms that do this	Termites, elephants, cacti, desert beetles...
4. ABSTRACT	Extract the underlying principle	Termites use thermal mass + convection chimneys
5. EMULATE	Apply principle to your design	Concrete mass + natural ventilation shafts
6. EVALUATE	Test: Does it create conditions for life?	Less energy, healthier air, lower cost? ✓


😏 Step 2 is where the magic happens. You're basically becoming nature's therapist: 'So tell me, how do YOU deal with extreme heat?'


😐 Original Problem	🌳 Biologized Version
My office is too hot in summer	How does nature cool spaces without energy?
Our packaging creates too much waste	How does nature package things that biodegrade?
Traffic is gridlocked at rush hour	How does nature move large groups efficiently?
Our team has communication silos	How does nature share information across a system?
My lawn needs constant watering	How do ecosystems retain water naturally?
My roof leaks during storms	How does nature shed water while staying intact?


😏 If participants are stuck: 'Pretend you're explaining your problem to a very smart mushroom. The mushroom doesn't know what a 'server' is, but it definitely knows how to distribute nutrients.'

Go to asknature.org/asknature-chat and demonstrate with a participant's biologized question.

AskNature.org - 1,800+ biological strategies, free
Biomimicry Taxonomy - 160 functions searchable by what organisms DO
ChatGPT/Claude - Ask 'What organisms solve [function]?' + 'What's the mechanism?'
Autodesk Generative Design - Uses slime mold + bone growth algorithms


😏 'Yes, there's an AI that thinks like a slime mold. And before you laugh—slime molds have solved mazes and recreated the Tokyo rail system. They're literally better urban planners than us.'


😏 Remind teams: 'You're not trying to build a termite. You're trying to think like one. The termite doesn't have an engineering degree either, and look what it built.'

End with ONE concrete action each participant will take:


😏 Final thought: 'Nature's been acing the sustainability test for 3.8 billion years. We've been taking the same test for 200 years and we're still guessing. Maybe it's time to look at her answer sheet.'

Workshop by 2050planet.com