What connects network , chaos, bios, complexity, self-organization, and spontaneous order theory? The constructal law.
The constructal law describes how things flow. If you have slow and fast flow together, you get a branchy pattern (which looks like a tree, a river delta, lightning, lung bronchea, the brain's neural network, the neurons themselves, etc.) that facilitates both kinds of flows. The fast flows act as engines, the slow flows act as brakes. In a river, the water is the fast flow, the soil the slow flow. More, within the branchy pattern, the slow flows are short, the fast flows are long. Further, the slow flows are smooth, the fast flows are turbulent (herein comes the element of chaos theory). Slow, smooth, short streams flow into faster, more turbulent longer streams, which flow into faster, more turbulent, longer rivers. Areas flow into points, and points flow into areas. Roots flow into the trunk, the trunk flows into the limbs.
Further, the history of the evolution of flow is toward greater and greater freedom. This is true whether the flows are physical, biological, psychological, or social. This agrees with the work of J.T. Fraser and of Clare Graves. It agrees with my own ideas in Diaphysics. Little did I know I was always already writing about flows. The constructal law fills in the last little bit, clarifying why I have been obsessed with networks, chaos theory, bios theory, complexity, self-organization, and evolution. These are all about flows. Further, it explains why I am an Austrian economist -- it too is all about flows.
If you contribute to the improvement of flow, you are participating in the natural evolution of the universe. If you work to block flow, you are working against the natural evolution of the universe. But as with any other law of nature, you cannot violate it for long without consequences. Nature will have its way. You can either work with it and live a good life, or work against it and be crushed by it over time.
"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." -- Francis Bacon
According to the constructal law, social orders are also nature. If you want to live in a good society, it must maps onto nature, being nature. Societies must be free to find their own improved flows. Damming a river won't improve its flow any more than restrictive regulations that act as barriers to entry improve the economy. The movement of water, the movement of people, the movement of ideas, the movement of money, the movement of goods -- all must be free to flow.
2 comments:
My favorite imagery from reading Adam Smith is his recurrent use of flowing water. Whenever governments try to steer industry away from its natural channel, their purposes are thwarted by entrepreneurs in such a way that everyone is generally worse off than if the government had not acted at all. Water seeks its own level, and capital seeks profit opportunities. The power of water carves canyons and sculpts seashores. Governments try to dam the power of markets and command the tide not to rise, but price controls create scarcity instead of prosperity, and resulting black markets do not have the safeguards of legal property rights.
My pet example is "campaign finance reform". The Hoover Dam is a remarkable feat of engineering. It was made from 4 million cubic yards of concrete and killed dozens of people during construction, not to mention the continuing environmental costs, but at least we can say that it does what we intended it to do: eliminate flooding, create electricity, and provide water for irrigation. On the other hand, the Colorado River which carved the Grand Canyon is not going to be stopped for long by whatever concrete we can throw at it. Every year the water seeps a little bit farther and faster through the rocks around the dam. In geologic time, the awesome Hoover Dam will be gone in an eye-blink. Compare this to campaign finance reform. Person A has influence to sell, person B wishes to buy. This is determined to be undesirable so we dam the transaction. Person A may not take person B's money, but he still has influence to sell and B still wishes to buy. Introduce the middleman. The middleman may take the form of soft money, 527's, PAC's, or hiring A's useless son for a sinecure; but the money will move from B to A because even the the most draconian legislation is much more pervious to individual relationships than concrete is to water. Money flows.
You are absolutely correct. Dam the flow, and the flow will simply redirect. And not how you would like it to redirect, more often than not.
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