Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated

Convergence

A process in which similar characteristics evolve independently in multiple systems.

Natural or human-made systems that best approximate optimal strategies afforded by the environment tend to be successful, while systems exhibiting lesser approximations tend to become extinct. This process results in the convergence of form and function over time. The degree of convergence in an environment indicates its stability and receptivity to different kinds of innovation.

In nature, for example, the features of certain early dinosaurs—use of surface area for thermoregulation, and scales as an outer skin—evolved over millions of years to become the birds we see today. The genesis of flight for birds is different from that of other flying organisms ...