Pretty mind-blowing, but I think he's mostly right. Then again, his website is a disaster, so it is possible he has some personality defect which will lead his model into undeserved scorn...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/02/29/theres-a-new-law-in-physics-and-it-changes-everything/ There's a New Law in Physics and It Changes Everything I first came across the work of Adrian Bejan through my old friend, J. Peder Zane who emailed a bunch of classmates about a new book he had co-written with Bejan called Design in Nature, How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, Technology and Social Organization. I called Peder up to talk about it and found myself immediately sucked in. How could there be a new law in physics that nobody outside of academia seems to know about? There must be something wrong with it, or else I would already know about it, right? But science is on a slower news cycle than technology and, as author William Gibson once joked, “The future is already here—it’s just not evenly distributed.” And so it is with the Constructal Law, already here but not evenly distributed. Because Bejan has identified a basic Law of Physics that describes and predicts how design patterns emerge over time, he contends that one can construct a “constructal theory” about any system, animate, inanimate or technological (see more about this at Constructal Theory Web Portal). This last one of course got my attention and I have been peppering my posts with little constructal tidbits ever since. Anybody who has participated in the phenomenon of viral social media understands, intuitively, what Bejan is describing mathematically. There are characteristic ways that flows change their configuration over time to flow more (and more!). In many parts of science, and in life, we have “black boxed” the processes through which things change. We put energy into a box called entropy and note that it dissipates. We are born and then we die—but in between something happens, we live. The Constructal Law is important because it not only describes the patterns of change in the world within and around us, but it allows us to predict how the configuration of those patterns will evolve over time. I will be conducting a series of interviews with Bejan about a bunch of topics related to content and technology (see, as well, an article by Bejan and Zane in Salon on the benefits of political “flip-flopping”), but I wanted to start out with a general purpose introduction to his work before getting into the applications. The Constructal Sessions, Part I: Introduction Interview with Adrian Bejan, J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Duke University Conducted via email, February 27- 28, 2012 Q: In the simplest non-technical terms, what is the Constructal Law? A: The Constructal Law is my statement that there is a universal tendency (a phenomenon) toward design in nature, in the physics of everything. This tendency occurs because all of nature is composed of flow systems that change and evolve their configurations over time so that they flow more easily, to create greater access to the currents they move. Q: What makes this a law of physics instead of just a theory? A: Fantastic question! Very few people know the difference. I was lucky to have this explained to me by Angele Kremer-Marietti, a French professor of philosophy of science, in Paris in 2004. Even though I correctly named it the Constructal Law in 1996, I incorrectly referred to it in some of my early articles as constructal “theory.” A theory is a purely mental image of how something should be. In other words, the thought in the dark (with eyes closed) comes first, and the comparison with nature (eyes open) comes later. If the imagined agrees with the real, then the theory is correct. A law is a concise statement that summarizes a distinct and universal tendency in nature (the phenomenon), previously not recognized as distinct. The key word is “universal.” A law is for everything, it is obeyed by every system imaginable (bodies, rivers, machines). A law underpins as many theories as the “things” that the mind wishes to explore, for example: Page 2 of 3 If that thought in the dark is about what the shape of snowflakes should be according to the Constructal Law (this has happened to me), then the outcome (the mental viewing, the idea) is the constructal “theory” of the snowflake’s tree-shaped architecture. In practical terms, a law and and the many theories supported by it are predictive. The law is universal, while any given theory is specific. You can use both to imagine what will be. The world managed without Galileo’s gravity phenomenon, as it did without the phenomenon of “design in nature,” but both laws are in fact primary principles that cannot be deduced from other laws of physics. Snowflakes and river basins and cooling systems for computer chips are all discussed in the Design in Nature book, along with many more constructal theories of inanimate, animate and social design phenomena. The bottom line is that the law is one, the theories are many, and the empirical observations are immense in number. This hierarchy is the essence of the evolutionary design of science itself, which is also a constructal theory. Q: Wait a minute, does this have anything to do with the “theory” of intelligent design? A: First, let’s be clear about what we mean by “design” when we discuss “design in nature”. The word “design” has two meanings, the noun and the verb. The noun “design” means a drawing, figure, configuration, image, pattern, rhythm or motif. The Constructal Law is about this, the natural occurrence and evolution of flow configurations. It captures this natural phenomenon. Design in nature happens, and the Constructal Law states why and in what direction it should happen. The verb “to design” is the human urge of contriving and extending the reach and power of each individual. Those who design are designers. The Constructal Law of design in nature is not about the designer. It has nothing to do with “intelligent design.” Science is the search for the laws that govern natural phenomena. Science is not the search for the designer, one or many. The latter is a much older search called religion. A new law of physics improves everyone’s thinking ability, across the board. This has been my experience with the Constructal Law, as I lecture in universities, industry, high schools, and retirement homes. Everybody gets it. Along the way people realize that catchy words like “intelligent design,” “turbulence,” “chance” and “randomness” are not predictive, are not “theory”. These are puzzles that the Constructal Law solves with ease, one by one. Page 3 of 3 The book Design in Nature is the story of how the Constructal Law empowers the reader to predict what had been puzzling, so that we can all move on. Q: It seems that Darwin’s theory of natural selection led people in all disciples during the 20th century to latch onto randomness as a way of denying the primacy of a “designer.” How does randomness fit into the Constructal Law? A: With maturing systems we generally see the hand-in-glove of diversity and pattern. Both are needed to irrigate the landscape better and better with what flows. Like in any river basin, the diverse is the actual drawing (crooked channels, wet mud, fallen trees), and the pattern is the tree design based on the rule of 4 tributaries. Both happen more and more as the life of the evolutionary design rolls by. We see it in old river basins, animal lungs, old technologies, and 100-year old Olympic sports. You are correct about Darwin, that his descendants latched on to randomness and chance, except that his narrative is no “theory”. It is not predictive—how can it be? It is about throwing the dice. Darwin’s narrative is at best descriptive of what might have happened en route to today. Darwin’s ideas are strictly about animate systems. The Constructal Law is about everything, animate, inanimate, and human and machine species (about us and our extensions, contrivances, vehicles and global tapestry of links). The Constructal Law defines in physics terms what it means to be “fit”. It defines in physics terms what it means to be “alive”, and why the “adaptable” is more likely to survive. “Freedom is good for design”, is one of my favorite lines in the book and the class room. The Constructal Law has countless applications because it puts biological design and evolution within the realm of physics, along with everything else that did not have a home in “hard science” until now : economics, social dynamics, business, and government. Q: We don’t usually think of physics this way, but the Constructal Law is quite hopeful. It’s about how things get better. Are you an optimistic person? A: When you grow up under communism you have to be an optimist, to survive. We will continue with the theme of freedom and design in our next installment. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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