| This argument is often cited in other design contexts but it applies to
the world of the small as well. Consider two schools of thought: Bottom Up Start with little tiny parts and put them together to build something from the "bottom up". Advantage: You're already small. Disadvantage: Ad Hoc. Poor infrastructure. No overall strategy, guiding script or design. Top Down Start at some relatively large scale, and incrementally shrink the devices, tooling, and effectors in stepwise powers of two, from the "top down." with an overall guiding strategy. Advantage: You always have something to demostrate. Disadvantage: Takes time, money and armies to drag all that infrastructure downtown to smallsville. Technology shifts: Lights go out Dust gets bigger Acoustics change Assembly techniques Quantum concerns Solution: Do Both In Alternating Cycles |