In his book, The Physics of Life, Adrian Bejan proposes that the constructal flows that shape the universe are in fact “living” and that the universe is constantly evolving as directed by the Constructal Law. For convenience, I will call this Universal Evolution.
The Constructal Law was stated by Adrian Bejan in 1996 as follows: "For a finite-size system to persist in time (to live), it must evolve in such a way that it provides easier access to the imposed currents that flow through it."
We need to distinguish between Universal Evolution as Bejan defines it, and what I will call Classical Life, the commonly understood subset of the universal, including biology, humans and technical life forms.
I will argue that the collection, harvesting and storing of energetic flows as information in order to create and express knowledge is the hallmark of life. This definition is entirely consistent with both the Constructal Law and with existing theories of life. It is demonstrably true for all life forms, from basic biology to human neural networks to the Internet and to technical life forms at all scales and mechanisms of operation.
Information as it is used here is defined as energetic flows which are sensed and stored for incorporation into knowledge. Information is an emergent property of matter and energy and is entirely dependent on the presence of a sentient receiver with appropriate contextual knowledge. Matter in the abstract can be described as having “configuration” or “state” (mass, position, velocity) but it does not inherently contain information, which is created by sensing that state and converting it to organized storage for processing or later use. We can describe things as "having information" with the caveat that it is potential information, subject to the presence of a sentient contextual receiver. This topic is defined fully in a following article.
While replication of information is of course necessary to build a knowledge base beyond a single individual, self-replication is not a fundamental requirement for life. All manner of machines are able to receive information from the environment and use their built-in knowledge to control larger flows. The fact that they are replicated by external means (people or other machines) does not disqualify them from being considered life forms according to my Constructal Theory of Information. It’s worthy to note that some biological life forms, e.g. viruses, are incapable of self-replication but are still classified as life.
Dominance is the relative ability of one entity to cause change in another. Flow and channel are in constant tension over which will dominate. This is a key feature of the constructal Law which defines the characteristics of all information systems. In this short article, I will introduce the topic as a prelude to a larger discussion of how information systems operate in the context of the Constructal Law.
The Constructal Law admits to three possible flow conditions:
- Unlimited flow, zero channel dominance, e.g. a waterfall, discounting air resistance
- Total channel dominance, zero flow dominance, e.g. a hose or pipe. Neither of these cases creates evolution, or Universal Life.
- The middle ground, where flow modifies (morphs, evolves) channel and channel affects flow often in alternating balance and with potentially exquisite subtlety. In the residue from this process, we find the markers of universal evolution and the origin of information itself.
This is the universal constructal refinery that shapes and defines the evolution of the living universe. It explains how gold found its way into nuggets and how planets differentiated into layers of solids and gasses. It informs the evolution of biological systems. It is the Constructal Law in action.
When a river is in flood stage the channel patterns carved in the river bed are constantly shifting, overwhelmed by the morphing force of the constructal flows. However, as the flow subsides, at some point the flow is no longer able to morph the channel and the channel configuration at that moment freezes o