A high-risk, speculative, and fundamental new approach to computer science championed by Jaron Lanier of virtual reality fame. I call it phenotropics," says the 42-year-old Lanier. By pheno, he means the physical appearance of something, and by tropics, he means interaction. Lanier's idea is to create a new way to tie two pieces of software together. He theorizes that two software objects should contact each other "like two objects in nature," instead of through specific modules or predetermined points of contact.

http://phenotropics.tribe.net