Freedom and Evolution

11:00 - 12:00

Professor Bejan's lecture at the Open University will explore familiar designs found all around and inside us (such as the ‘trees’ of river basins, human lungs, blood and city traffic). It will then show how all flow systems are driven by power from natural engines everywhere, and how they are endlessly shaped because of freedom. Professor Bejan will explain how people, like everything else that moves on earth, are driven by power derived from our “engines” that consume fuel, food, and solar heating. Movement dissipates the power completely and changes its configuration constantly for greater access, economies of scale, efficiency, innovation and life. These ideas are captured in Professor Bejan's 2020 book, Freedom and Evolution: Hierarchy in Nature, Society and Science. His lecture will provide both reflections and updates on these far-reaching ideas.