Embedded Systems
Jack Ganssle et al
At least one bird species uses a twig to dig insects out of holes in trees. Some primates open hard shells with branches used as clubs. The Attini ant is quite literally a farmer, cultivating patches of fungus and exchanging fungi species with other ant colonies. Clearly Homo sapiens is not the only species that uses tools or manipulates the environment to serve our ends. Four billion years of evolution has produced creatures whose fitness for their place in an ecological niche must be augmented by using and building things.
