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I see Systems Engineering analogies in a lot of complex natural systems. It's a great model to understand how the world around you works, as long as you remember it's only a model.
For example, I optimize my navigation around town sort of like the OSPF network routing protocol. I consider the speed limit & number of lanes to be analogous to the link cost, traffic lights as Layer 3 hops, and stop signs as Layer 2 hops. I consider the local highways to be my "backbone area" so navigation is optimized to find the shortest path from wherever I am to the nearest major highway. Sometimes the solution takes me a mile or two out of my way, but I'll avoid 4 or 5 busy lights by taking a back road or cutting through a residential block.
In fact, the airline network is similarly structured: for a given carrier, routes among their hubs are their backbone area, and routes between regional airports in different regions connect through one or two hubs. As a traveler between two regional airports, you're likely to fly to the hub closest to your destination and meet a second leg back out the the other airport. All to better if you just live near a hub.
Slime mold has been shown to be an excellent way to plan rail systems:
https://www.wired.com/2010/01/slime-mold-grows-network-just-like-tokyo-rail-system/