Hi Mark! Biology is a pretty broad study so I'm confident there are learnings that one could draw from and apply for customer experience. The simple nervous system of our own body for example, could be identified as a feedback loop but also as a homeostasis regulator -- maintaining the chemical balance. Even this isn't directly applicable, but the essence of this idea is that the nervous system is actually somewhat decentralized rather than centralized. The brain has different regions that coordinates different parts of the body (and even the mind). I'm really just touching the surface (because I don't want to write a biology essay :) ) but how we apply this idea to how we coordinate our responses to issues (as an organization or business is relatively similar to a degree depending on your perspective.

Another look at biology would be the study of ants, bees, etc. and their interactions with one another. I believe TED has a number of videos on that topic too. But you are right that porting biology to customer experience directly or indirectly would possibly yield some insight or testing of customer interaction -- and thus maybe some interesting results. This isn't a new idea but it's something that I feel is overlooked because a lot of people out there forget about the essence behind biology and chemistry when they're so focused on their core business.

Thanks for the clarification Dan. I just felt that the two statements you had made were excellent ideas to build upon -- especially in the larger context of art, investment and risk-taking, the idea of individual vested interest, and direct democracy. Yea, I tend to mesh a lot of ideas together... :)

Mark, thanks for commenting. I\'m actually not suggesting that taxpayers have the ability to allocate anything and everything. I\'m merely suggesting that on some level, the Canada Council should allow tax payers to allocate for a particular genre inthe arts.

I don\'t agree with the argument that something needs to be in the interest of a mass audience in order to be successful. In my opinion, art is subjective and it requires investment of not just monetary, but more of an personal and individual interest. Currently, this interest is dictated by a small number of individuals.

For a more direct approach, why not have artists to individually promote their own project on a platform that would encourage individuals to really buy in and have a vested interest? This is definitely not the only way, but I felt that if we are talking about platforms and how authors (and other artists) can really take their projects to a higher level and really own their project, we should not only be looking at profitable businesses, but also the impact of philathropy and how tax dollars are spent.