ent 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 out. What we see when it is over is the last moment of fast constructal morphing before the channel gained dominance over the flow.
This is the end product of the constructal flow itself, after the last of its energy was dissipated and it could no longer move the earth and rocks to give itself more room to run. In the process, the river channel has evolved into a new configuration. Until a new flow returns, that configuration will persist, frozen into the landscape. The transition point when the channel freezes out of the flow is the boundary between flow and channel dominance. This is the moment when evolution is recorded, preserving the effects of energetic flows for the future. This is where design in nature is created. Flows that pass through that channel in the future will be influenced by the form of the channel created in the past. This is the basis of all sentient information systems.
Evolution can only be recorded at the boundary of flow and channel dominance. An atomic bomb is such an energetic flow that it instantly overwhelms life forms and destroys all record of them. A petrified tree surrenders its energetic flows and channels to the flows of the evolving rock over millennia, which stores their precipitated configuration for our possible later retrieval as information. They become part of a much longer term evolution of the rocks themselves, perhaps waiting a billion years to be subducted into the mantle for the next chapter of their evolutionary story. The channel-skeletons of the petrified wood which might have provided us with information are then overwhelmed by the energy from the molten interior of the earth and are lost forever. The Second Law prevails, even if it takes a long time.
All finite flow systems, for both universal and classical life, must evolve to survive, This evolution only takes place when the energy of the flow overcomes the constraints of the channel. If the flow energy is too large, the existing form of the channel will be obliterated. This is not a problem for universal life