Engineered Networks Mimic Living Networks

The world recognizes technological feats
in telecommunications this month. We reflect
on key common engineering parallels in
biology pointing to markers of intelligent design

Telecommunications Technologies and Their
Parallel to Ingenious Biological Engineering

by Dr. Sarah Buckland-Reynolds

In today’s world, the pace of technological development and dependence on internet connectivity underpins most of our daily tasks. On May 17 of each year, the International Telecommunications Union celebrates World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (since 1969). This year, the theme was: “Digital lifelines: Strengthening resilience in a connected world”. While this theme invites reflection on the extraordinary progress humanity has achieved in building robust digital infrastructure, it also raises important questions about how we recognize the attributes of design, resilience and engineering, and the extent to which these attributes are mirrored in nature or even derived from it.

Building Robust Digital Infrastructure: Key Attributes

The modern telecommunications system is a vast architecture of interconnected networks both above and below ground: terrestrial fibre-optic networks, submarine cables spanning oceans, satellites orbiting the earth, and data systems that ensure continuity even in times of crisis. These infrastructures are recognizable through key engineering principles, including:

• redundancy
• adaptability
• resilience
• predictability
• stability

Interestingly, these principles are not only present in nature but oftentimes are borrowed from nature itself.

1. Redundancy. This principle refers to the presence of multiple elements capable of performing the same function, ensuring continuity when one fails. In telecommunications engineering, redundancy is achieved through many mechanisms. Some examples are backup routes, mirrored servers, and duplicate hardware so that data can be rerouted seamlessly if a node or pathway is compromised. In nature, ecosystems display redundancy in numerous examples. For example, when several species fulfill overlapping roles (for example, bees, butterflies, and birds all act as pollinators), this ensures the system remains stable even if one species decline.

2. Adaptability. As another engineering principle in robust telecommunications, adaptability is the capacity to adjust and reroute functions in response to disruption or change. In telecommunications, packet‑switching protocols embody adaptability by dynamically rerouting data around failures, maintaining communication flow despite interruptions. In biological systems, neural pathways (such as in the brain) demonstrate adaptability through plasticity, rerouting signals when damage occurs so that the brain can preserve function and recover after injury.

3. Resilience as another design feature is the ability to withstand stress and recover from shocks without collapsing. Several examples in telecommunications engineering stand out, for example, submarine cables are designed with multiple protective layers (e.g., insulation, and waterproofing). These protective layers allow them to endure immense oceanic pressures and external hazards. In nature, similar and even superior resilience is widely evident. In biological tissues such as bone, a rigid mineral matrix with flexible collagen fibres enables the simultaneous resilience features of strength and flexibility under stress.

4. Predictability. Another design principle in telecommunications is predictability. This involves the capacity to anticipate system behavior under given conditions. In telecommunications, predictable performance is achieved through standardized protocols and quality‑of‑service guarantees, which ensure that data flows consistently and reliably across networks. In nature, predictability is seen in seasonal cycles and migratory patterns, where organisms respond to recurring environmental cues such as rainfall or temperature changes, allowing ecosystems to function in a regular rhythm.

Intracellular function also displays remarkable examples of predictability principles, particularly seen in the way RNA is organized into intracellular packets such as stress granules and processing bodies. These structures regulate when and where RNA molecules are stored, transported, and translated, ensuring that genetic instructions are delivered consistently even under stress. By compartmentalizing transcripts and protecting them from degradation, cells maintain reliable patterns of gene expression, much like engineered systems that safeguard and route information to guarantee predictable outcomes.

5. Stability. As a fifth engineering principle, stability allows the system to maintain equilibrium over time, even in the face of disturbances. In telecommunications, stability is achieved through load balancing and error‑correction mechanisms that prevent cascading failures and keep networks operating smoothly. In ecosystems such as forests, nutrient cycling maintains balance by recycling organic matter through decomposers, ensuring soil fertility and ecosystem continuity. As another example, homeostasis in organisms regulates internal conditions such as temperature and pH, allowing life to persist despite external fluctuations. Stability mechanisms are even evident to reduce the likelihood of extremes in wetland hydrology, where water levels are buffered by natural storage and release. All these examples show evidence to ensure long‑term sustainability.

The Brain Beats Telecommunication

While there are numerous parallels between engineering principles built into telecommunications systems and those present in nature, the discourse becomes even more intriguing when we recognize that many observed features in nature not only mimic but far surpass the intricacies found in man-made telecommunications. One such powerful example is the human brain. Despite the advances in telecommunications, our bodies possess even more intricate connections than the entire global system. The human brain alone contains an estimated 86 billion neurons, each forming thousands of synaptic connections. This results in a network far more complex than the sum of routers, switches, and fiber links worldwide.

To put it in perspective, the number of synaptic connections in a single brain exceeds the number of connections in the entire global telecommunications infrastructure. This staggering reality underscores that while we celebrate the ingenuity of telecommunications engineering, we must acknowledge the even more marvelous engineering within us. Such an observation should also raise the question about the origins of such an intricate system. If the entire man-made telecommunications system that has been in development for millennia cannot even parallel the number of connections inside a single human brain, how can such intricacy be accounted for by chance processes in Darwinian evolution? It is far more reasonable to believe that the brain’s architecture, with its capacity for memory, creativity, and consciousness, points to design beyond mere chance.

Routing Signals

Even beyond the brain, several other observations in nature appear to have been used as templates in the design for some of the world’s key telecommunications engineering. For example, packet-switching protocols that reroute data around failures appear very similarly to rerouted signals when neural pathways become damaged. As another example, the layering used in submarine cables to endure oceanic pressures appears similar to biological tissue structures that withstand stress through layered structures. Submarine cables often use steel armoring and insulation in cables, which parallels collagen and mineral layering in bone or skin. As other examples, the nervous system, the cardiovascular system, and the cellular communication networks within us operate with precision and resilience that no human-made system can rival.

These parallels remind us that, as marvelous as human engineering progress is, we often forget that existing within our own bodies are the templates that give rise to these technologies that are intelligently applied beyond the biological.

Telecommunications, the Dominion Mandate and God’s Glory

As part of the dominion mandate given in Genesis, humanity is called to harness creation responsibly. Telecommunications engineers, data scientists, and policymakers are stewards of tools that can uplift societies, bridge inequalities, and strengthen resilience. Yet, in celebrating these advances, let us also cultivate humility, recognizing that the most advanced fibre-optic cable or satellite constellation is but a shadow of the marvelous design each of us possesses.

As we extract resources to benefit humanity, let us also remember that the dominion mandate is not a license for exploitation but a call to stewardship. Those who spend their careers building and maintaining digital lifelines should be encouraged to do so to the glory of God, recognizing that their work participates in a larger narrative of human flourishing under divine design.

Therefore, as we recognize World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2026, it calls us to gratitude and reflection. As we appreciate the digital lifelines that sustain communities in times of crisis, let us reflect on the deeper lifelines within us that testify to divine design.

Dr. Sarah Buckland-Reynolds is a Christian, Jamaican, Environmental Science researcher, and journal associate editor. She holds the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona with high commendation, and a postgraduate specialization in Geomatics at the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia. The quality of her research activity in Environmental Science has been recognized by various awards including the 2024 Editor’s Award from the American Meteorological Society for her reviewing service in the Weather, Climate and Society Journal, the 2023 L’Oreal/UNESCO Women in Science Caribbean Award, the 2023 ICETEX International Experts Exchange Award for study in Colombia. and with her PhD research in drought management also being shortlisted in the top 10 globally for the 2023 Allianz Climate Risk Award by Munich Re Insurance, Germany. Motivated by her faith in God and zeal to positively influence society, Dr. Buckland-Reynolds is also the founder and Principal Director of Chosen to G.L.O.W. Ministries, a Jamaican charitable organization which seeks to amplify the Christian voice in the public sphere and equip more youths to know how to defend their faith.