The pattern
An activator diffuses slowly, autocatalyzing its own production. An inhibitor diffuses fast, suppressing the activator at range. The tension between them crystallises into structure.
Fungi · Decomposition · Network
Mycelium
Beneath every forest floor, a single algorithm routes nutrients through darkness — branching where resources are scarce, pruning where they are not.
Substrate
Hyphal tips extend toward nutrient gradients. Where two tips meet, anastomosis fuses them into a loop — redundancy against failure, efficiency against distance.
Universality
Change two numbers — feed rate f, kill rate k — and the same equations describe river deltas, opinion clusters, root systems, slime mold foraging, urban sprawl. The substrate changes. The logic does not.