Design By Analogy is the use of examples to spark ideas on what a solution to a problem might be. AnalogicalReasoning is often at work when people are being creative. This involves relating elements of the problem-at-hand to elements of solved problems and gaining insights into possible solutions from exising solutions in the same or dissimilar domains.

-- RalphHodgson
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http://www.docbrown.info/ks3biology/gifs/FoodWeb4.gif

''Cells are like miniature ecosystems, the Chromosomes have territories, replication like repoduction. Mapping a Starsystem to cells then could also be isomorphic to the larger scale, though if the G8 are like a pod of dolphins, the smaller FoodWeb members should not be taken lliterally as something to be absorbed imperialistically. "Feeding" would be like trading within a ValueChain. Small individuals being sent to run into you like gluons would be the wrong CellMetaphor, a challenge for (b)oy+(g)irl = 2g = 2 gods = a BeliefSystem that tends to funfamentalism while ostensibly claiming to be mitigating it. Being like Atoms AlienEntities would be like the PeriodicTable cubed, you could model it by transforming the existing ones to 6*3, though the way intelligent species relayte is probably civilized compared to treating species within our own plane. Races the row horizontal. Posers then could opt in to support a a Celebrity without looking like them, special signals uses like a WepKey to establish context. PerformanceArt could then be used to emulate the right metaphors without impeding mobility or imposing inquisition-like strictures. The magic of FractalMathematics ...''

http://www.12manage.com/images/picture_porter_value_chain.gif
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See:InstinctAsIntelligence