Pervasive Flexibility in Living Technologies through Degeneracy Based Design

Many of the conditions in which technology is required to adapt cannot be anticipated during its design stage, creating a significant challenge for the designer. Inspired by the study of a range of biological systems, we propose that degeneracy - the realization of multiple, functionally versatile components with contextually overlapping functional redundancy - will support adaptation in technologies because it effects pervasive flexibility, evolutionary innovation, and homeostatic robustness. We provide examples of degeneracy in a number of rudimentary living technologies from military socio-technical systems to swarm robotics and we present design principles - including protocols, loose regulatory coupling, and functional versatility - that allow degeneracy to arise in both biological and man-made systems. Keywords: pervasive adaptation, degeneracy, living technologies, distributed robustness 1. Introduction Unanticipated requirements can arise throughout a technology's life and are a notoriously difficult engineering problem and a challenging research topic because past routines and contingency plans will be of limited utility. Dealing with new challenges requires exploration, diversity, and bethedging: principles that are common to any discipline in which responses to novelty determine competitive success.