Everything falls together: The Guide to the New Materials RevolutionSkylar Tippbits, Princeton University Press. 224 pages. $24.95
The things that we make are meant to stay together. Our bridges should never be moved, our buildings shouldn’t shake, and our shoes ought to stay put. A product we have made can last a lifetime. This is the greatest compliment you could give it. Engineers and designers have always looked up to this sense of stability as their north star. Because of this, the built world has artifacts and structures which are meticulously constructed to last for many years with minimal degradation. They are difficult to dispose of even when they become obsolete.
Skylar Tibbits, however, outlines an entirely different design style that is inspired by biology. Skylar Tibbits argues that we don’t need to produce polished, finished products. We can instead use technology to build things in the same way as nature. It is possible to grow artifacts capable of self-assembling, adapting, self-repair and evolving, as well as disassembly when necessary. Tibbits is optimistic that this path can be achieved based on the research of his team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and at other laboratories worldwide. This is In Everything falls togetherIn this article, he describes early experiments which show that these insane ideas may be possible.
It isn’t new for technology to mimic biology. In the 1950s scientists created small sets that encouraged components to self-assemble. These are some of the oldest working prototypes. Tibbits is continuing this research at MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab. The book recounts how the lab has created systems where simple, dumb pieces can cleverly join together to form complex structures. The material is the key to many design’s self-assembly. When heated, shaken or pressurized it can change shape or link with other parts or, through numerous other behaviors, fall together with others pieces to create a new thing. Tibbits comes to think of this stuff as “active materials”—or even better, as “programmed matter.”
Even the best that Tibbits, colleagues and others can accomplish in their laboratories pales when compared to what bacteria can achieve as it grows. Today is just the beginning, similar to the first year of computerdom. We should be aware of the possibilities. This book is meant to be a catalog of what’s possible.
Why not use local producers to produce finished, polished products instead of centralized factories? Tibbits and his team made a test tank with turbulent water to allow engineered wood pieces to be self-assembled into chairs. You don’t have to build as many structures when things are self-assembled. Small cells can be joined with others to create tissues, and organs by using a very minimal amount of scaffolding. When each part can be directed directly from the inside, it eliminates all the manual labor required in factories. The potential for self-assembly in manufacturing could mean a smaller footprint.
Why not create buildings that adapt over time, rather than building large buildings that have to be torn down when they no longer serve their purpose (such a car dealer)? You can make shoes that are made of material that changes according to the way its wearer walks and runs. Tibbits discusses construction techniques that depend on thousands of small “bottom-up”, components that are capable of rearranging themselves as they go. Objects would be sensitive to how they are used, and they would contain in themselves—engineered in their materials or imbued with sensors—the ability to modify themselves in response.
Instead of throwing your phone away when it cracks, make glass that can self-repair. It’s possible for bones to do this. Some plastics have the ability to heal themselves, as well as concrete that self-heals. Many agents including bacteria can be used to penetrate the concrete and produce material that will repair and fill any cracks.
Instead of throwing away mountains of products or burning them in toxic furnaces and landfills, manufactured products can be reassembled into the original form. Tibbits discusses 3D-printed metal objects. These are made with different forms to achieve the ideal form. Interim versions of the object are then returned to their material hopper for reuse until it is perfect. Special bolts can be used to assembly products. The bolts’ threads will vanish when the object is finished.
Our ultimate goal is technologies that make everything strong. An oyster produces an extremely hard shell. Half-ton cattle are made of tiny grass blades. And trees create superstrong cellulose (wood), which decomposes at the end of its lifecycle. Better still: Shells and beef from grass are preferred, as well as steel that is the size of an oyster.
Tibbits draws attention to other remarkable lab experiments, which show what’s possible in the grand attempt to make technology more biological. However, I was unable to find any of the above commercially practical. These are just hints, promises and suggestions for directions. Everything falls together is more a manifesto than a pure journalistic investigation. This is a vision rather than a description.
Tibbits outlines all of the necessary elements to achieve this vision in the final chapter. Tibbits’ list also includes interdisciplinarity research that explores the spaces between engineering, design, botany, software programming, metallurgy, and ecology. To allow scientists from so many fields to communicate, a shared language must be developed, mathematically and literarily. Not least, new social, regulatory and legal norms must be established to deal with the challenges that this new world will present. Good answers are needed to the question of “Who is responsible” when generative systems work. If my device remakes itself according to how I use it, who is responsible for any harm it may create—me or the device maker? If a building re-arranges itself into a novel and breakthrough configuration while I am using it, who “owns” that innovation—me or the building owner? If Tibbits’ vision becomes a reality, many other conundrums may arise.
It will be “when” that they become reality. This is because this book, which is surprisingly short, shows that even though it seems impossible, the idea of creating a biological-like technology is possible. Here are bunches of experiments from around the world showing that parts of the vision really can be done—and that if they are done, they will be beneficial in many ways.
Although I believe Tibbits vision is certain, it won’t happen soon or quickly. Our funding systems are not geared towards the multidisciplinary research required for magic. Although the results are impressive, they will not be immediate. Tibbits does not suggest an exponential improvement, and neither do I.
This can be a good thing in some respects, as it gives us plenty of time for preparing ourselves for the future. We can begin to address the problems of adapting devices and buildings, which are out of our control. Tibbits did a tremendous job in compressing this huge vision into an easily readable book. Look at what’s coming! He says it. We should all look at him.