Some nanoparticles form self-assembling systems. These systems work from the bottom up, using simple rule sets carried by individuals, to create an emergent whole (a behaviour that is richer than just the sum of the individual parts). Often the emergent behaviour is very complex even though the starting point is very simple.
Examples of self-assembly in biological systems can be seen in the world of molecular biology; strands of ribonucleic acid (RNA) exhibit self-assembling behaviour: a complex three-dimensional structure emerges from the linear sequence. There is not space here to explain how that happens! But given that nucleic acid “bases” – the monomers – can rather specifically pair with one another (the DNA bases G, T, A, C pair as C≡G and A≡T) one can speculate that should a strand of polymer (e.g., GATTACA...) have somehow formed in the presence of monomers, the complementary bases would spontaneously attach to the single strand and perhaps form a stable double helix... ultimately, maybe, the gene coding for a functional protein, and even a set of genes from which a functional organism could emerge...?
“I'm in the helix, the double helix and I was truly made for you, you, you! We're in the helix, the twisted double helix, and we'll be making dreams come truu-oooh-oooh...” WHACK! No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Curse on those two-faced enzymes, bringing us together, tearing us apart, friend or foe, we'll never know - ha ha an enzyme rhyme, oh and another! I'm on a roll! Shame really, we were made for each other G and me. Probability is that she's with someone else already, but if she isn't it's a chance in a billion gazillion that I'll met her again so we can bind together. Probably a good thing really, must keep on moving with the times, keep pushing forwards, remembering the motto: Change, Update, Mutate. I hate being a monomer again, solo, single, lonesome and loose, but such is our evolutionary destiny. Once a drifter always a drifter... WHACK! “Well eeexscuuuuuse you, mind who you're bumping into”, so rude those A's. “I'm just diffusing, and you're refusing, and you're no G so that won't do, do, do. I'm still diffusing and you're eluding, there is only one match for me, me, me” WHACK! Well heeeellllooo who's this lovely? She's binding to me, we fit perfectly, what an ideal G. “She's made to measure, G's such a pleasure, we're bound together for all time, time, time.” WHACK!