, as there are no “rules” or values on the evolution of the universe. If a star and all its planets gets gobbled up by a black hole, well so be it. However, it is a problem for classical life forms who have a certain affection for their continued existence.
All of the interesting action takes place around the inflection point between flow and channel dominance. This is the refinery that makes the universe what it is. This is what brings together the gold atoms for my wedding ring and makes conversation with my wife amusing.
180 million year old petrified trees at Curio Bay, New Zealand. Early in the process, flows of mineral-rich water invaded the soft structure of the tree, using their energy to morph their channel and gain access according to the Constructal Law. However, they were resisted by the cellulose of the cells in the tree. They gained access, but did not have the power to destroy the channel structure. Instead, they froze in place, preserving a “photograph” of the tree for our inspection 180 million years later.
We can begin to understand how this works by observing constructal flows on the beach. First, the tidal flow morphs the beach channel, (part of the larger ocean-basin channel) leaving a smooth surface, but with a very even layer of fine black sand deposited on the surface as the force of the wave and tidal flows expended its energy pushing the sand uphill. It receded, surrendering dominance to the beach channel.
What we notice first about the recording of the flows is that they are complex, but not at all random. The pattern of the channels follow physics principles which have been explored at length by Professor Bejan and his colleagues.
We can deduce that water flowing toward sea level in unseen channels within the sand suddenly gained kinetic energy due to a change in the slope of the beach. Soon it overwhelmed the binding forces of the sand, which defined the channel dominance of the underground flow regime. The flow morphed into a flowing river, using its newfound energy to carry away sand, dig its fast straight channel deeper and increase access to its flow. As the slope decreased , the kinetic energy was reduced. Big sand grains precipitated out first, clinging to their brothers on the bottom and asserting their channel dominance, further spreading and slowing the flow. Soon the slowed water flows were absorbed back into the underground sand channels, and we were left with a snapshot in time of the moment the flow dominance disappeared.
Putting on our constructal geophysics magnifier goggles, when we examine the miniature valleys and canyons carefully, we find that they evolved with the largest sand grains deposited first. The flow widened laterally and slowed, creating a mesh of interacting channels, depositing graduated layers of ever finer grains. In our example, the smallest and lightest sand grains happened to be black, marking the last moments when the water flow surrendered its payload. The black sand, which started out as a uniform layer over the surface has been redistributed and concentrated in an image of the flow - a map detailing the exquisite subtlety of the flow regime - its forceful origin, its spreading and morphing of the channel (and morphing of the flow in response to the evolved structure of the channel due to previous flows) and its eventual loss of dominance to the channel. What we see, hours later while wandering the beach, is a preserved snapshot of the universal Constructal refinery in action.
This boundary - the interaction between flow and channel - defines the universal constructal refinery - which shapes and defines the evolution of the living Bejan universe. It is the Constructal Law in action. More important for our present discussion, constructal evolution creates differentiation - design in nature, stored for the future, be it long or short. We perceive the structures and their configurations as information, which we can use to understand the world or shape the future.
This is an exquisite example of flow morphed by channel, in turn morphing channel - perfect p