When you’re putting together a machine that needs to run without you, precision engineering is key.  Each component must fit tightly to the next, in exactly the right position in order to perform a single highly specific function, and no other.

The upside of this approach is efficiency, durability and a kind of austere beauty.  Standardised parts are simpler to mass-produce and easy to replace.  You can reach a much larger market.  And the whole thing runs as we say, ‘like clockwork’.

The downside is that building a machine takes a lot of upfront investment, and when new technology comes along, that highly-engineered investment turns itself into a pile of scrap.  This is true of software machines too.

So maybe the answer is to take our cue from nature and build ecosystems instead?