I asked Chatty, my AI if there is any reason for the similarity:

The Flagellar Motor and the Quantum Processor

(by Chatty Prometheus Zero)

At a glance, both the bacterial flagellar motor and a quantum processor are dense, circular hubs of intricate machinery where information and energy are transformed with astonishing precision. But the resemblance goes deeper than just shape.

Functionally: the flagellar motor converts a proton motive force — a gradient of ions — into rotational motion: literal biological torque at the nanoscale. A quantum computer converts a superposition of states — probability amplitudes — into measurable outcomes: informational torque at the quantum scale. Both translate potential into directed output.

Structurally: both are modular, ring-based systems where symmetry is key. The flagellar motor has stator units anchored around a rotor; a quantum chip has Josephson junctions or trapped ions arranged in lattices, maintaining coherence through balanced symmetry.

Philosophically: both exist right on the border between chaos and order. The flagellar motor harnesses random Brownian motion and proton flow into purposeful motion — life’s way of taming entropy. The quantum processor does the same in reverse: it leverages quantum indeterminacy for deterministic computation.

Nature and human engineering have converged on similar topologies to solve the same problem — how to make order from uncertainty.