Last year, I defined "isomorphic instantiation" as the phenomenon in which a complex technology developed by intelligence is subsequently found to exist in nature. In a sense, isomorphic instantiation is the inverse of biomimetics, since biomimetics is the discipline of making technology that mimics the marvels of nature.

We can see a example of isomorphic instantiation in a paper entitled "Biplane wing planform and flight performance of the feathered dinosaur Microraptor gui" published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. If you don't have access to this paper, you can read news accounts. The paper suggests that the Microraptor had 4 wings in a configuration strikingly similar to the biplane. The authors conclude:

Aircraft designers have mimicked many of nature’s flight "inventions," usually inadvertently. Leading edge slats delay stalling, as does the alula of birds; birds’ feet act as airbrakes, and streamlining reduces drag. Now, it seems likely that Microraptor invented the biplane 125 million years before the Wright 1903 Flyer.

Isomorphic instantiation is a good indicator of intelligent design. We know that intelligent agents (namely, the Wright Brothers) invented the biplane. When a feature in nature, like the Microraptor's biplane wings, is strikingly similar to an invention already designed by intelligent agents, one must entertain the possibility that the feature in nature may have also been designed by an intelligent agent. We can't just automatically assume that complex technologies invent themselves. After all, did the Wright 1903 Flyer invent the biplane or did the Wright Brothers invent the biplane?