Structure – The First Step

Structure is a material unit or object, composed of smaller parts that are connected and organized so that it can stand alone but also  be part of a larger and more complex whole

The Units That Make the Whole – The Brick and the Brick Principle

The brick is the unit that is the basis of the brick building.

The Brick – An Individual Unit That Needs to Connect In Order to Function and Be Valuable

The brick by itself has no function and no value to the world.  In order to have value it needs to connect with other bricks.  When the brick, a structural unit,  connects with other bricks and they organize, a wall is built. The wall as a structural unit, connects with other walls and they organize to form a room, and eventually a building is built.  Although the brick is nothing by itself – a weak brick can bring the whole wall and the whole building down.

The Power of the Brick

It is Nothing by Itself  

However the Whole is Only as Strong as the Weakest Brick

The Units That Make the Body – The Cell and the Brick Principle

I am like a brick. Amrish Puri

The cell is the unit that is the basis of biology.

The cell by itself has no function nor value, unless it is a unicellular organism.  In order to have value it needs to connect with other cells.  When the cell, a structural unit,  connects with other cells and they organize, a tissue is built. The tissue as a structural unit, connects with other tissues and they organize to form an organ, and eventually a body is built.  Although the cell is nothing by itself – a weak cell can bring the tissue and the whole body down.

When the 37.2 trillion cells in the human body connect and organize, they create a spark of life housed in the body and gifted with a mind.

The difference between the brick building and the person is really the life that biology brings.  It is truly a miracle and the secret of how this happens still eludes human endeavour.  This secret may never be unlocked.

Subtract The Bricks From the Cells.  What is the Result?

What is very clear, is that as human biologic units build, the  result is larger and more powerful than the individual parts.  At a critical number a spark of life emerges within the body, and a mind emerges from both of them.  When and how that happens remains a mystery.

Our first project is not to delve into the yet unanswerable “hows” of life, but rather into the “hows” of structure.  Structure is complex, but the pattern of units connecting and organizing is universal and permeates structure from the  subcellular level to the whole body and even beyond into our communities.

Some Quotes About the Brick Principle

 “A great building will never stand if you neglect the small bricks.”

Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

“Love is like a brick. You can build a house, or you can sink a dead body.” Lady Gaga

“Brick and blood built Astapor, and brick and blood her people.”
George R R Martin – A Storm of Swords

14. “Genius too does nothing but learn first how to lay bricks then how to build, and continually seek for material and continually form itself around it.Every activity of man is amazingly complicated, not only that of the genius: but none is a ‘miracle.”
Friedrich Nietzsche

“I fear that in this thing many rich people deceive themselves. They go on accumulating the means but never using them; making bricks, but never building.”
George Eliot

“Faith. Trust. They don’t come naturally, but as we lay those first bricks, we notice that little by little, a foundation is forming. Eventually we can end up building the most beautiful things with faith and trust.”
José N. Harris

“Bricks without straw are more easily made than imagination without memories.”
Author: Lord Dunsany

“It takes a thousand bricks to build a wall, but only one to tear it down.”
Markus W. Lunner