I was trained as an EE so control theory, feedback systems, adapters, ports, connectors, buffers and impedance matching, transfer functions all stuck with my way of approaching designing systems, including human systems/organizations.
The way I describe it as "receptors" as in neurotransmitters is because this fascinates me. Both nicotine and acetylcholine bind to nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChRs). I found that to be amazing.
It’s also just a specific case of the more general idea of writing libraries and common APIs instead of monolithic applications. This can be seen in the Unix philosophy with standard IO and pipelines.
The way I describe it as "receptors" as in neurotransmitters is because this fascinates me. Both nicotine and acetylcholine bind to nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChRs). I found that to be amazing.