Design is a universal principle present in all things, animate and inanimate, as explained by Adrian Bejan's constructal law. At every scale of matter, time and organization there are design processes at work that recognize differences and exploit those differences to accomplish constructive work. These design processes are embodied as natural machines that do the work of intelligent construction at micro scales that become visible at macro scales as patterns, terrains and networks. Alex Wissner-Gross has conceived of intelligence as “an engine for maximizing future freedom of action.” His theory posits that two factors contribute to the quality of intelligence in a given system, the length of time frame and the number of entities within the system that are considered as part of this maximization. There is a bridge between Wissner-Gross’s intelligent agents and the evidence of design in Bejan’s constructal law in the form of emergent networks that maximize flow. Human technology has become better and better over time at creating natural machines of its own. Particularly in the areas of software applications and social networks it is apparent that these human domains have become areas of inquiry relevant to all areas of animate and inanimate natural phenomena. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, social media as well as the rendering of software applications themselves on diverse environments of devices all provide instructive analogies that illuminate these fundamental design principles. From this perspective, heat transfer is an app that has users that include snowflakes. Not all design processes are equal and the consideration of the failures of natural machines is as instructive as their successes. Computational linguistics, for instance, can quantify miscommunication as well as predict patterns of language usage. The degree of success of a design process, of a natural machine, should be discernible through the shape and configuration of the networks it engenders. Presented on April, 8 2014 | Duke Network Analytics Center Referenced in http://onforb.es/1ur7qOz

1. DESIGN EVERYWHERE
Natural Machines and the Success (and Failure)
of Emergent Networks

2. DESIGN EVERYWHERE
1. Technology as Flow
2. Design and Behavior
3. Failures of Flow
4. Power of Visualization

3. NATURAL MACHINES
natural machines do the work of intelligent construction
at micro scales that become visible at macro scales

4. ITER FUSION REACTOR
More gaps introduced into the design lead to more
neutrons penetrating and heating the machine

5. 1. TECHNOLOGY AS FLOW

6. DESIGN: PHYSICS vs INTENTION
Nature Technology
Intention
Intelligent
Design
Designer
Physics Constructal Law
Intelligent
Designer

7. STACKED S-CURVES
technology follows a predictable arc through a
series of refinements and optimizations

8. NEW CONFIGURATION
Dyson's Air Mutliplier bladeless fans remove
the central assumption of fan design

9. SHAFTLESS JET ENGINE
The HyperMach solution is capable of
increasing fuel efficiency by as much as 100%

10. APPLE GROWTH CURVES
Apple added to its original iPod line the
iPhone, iPad and perhaps next an iWatch?

11. 2. DESIGN AND BEHAVIOR

12. ADRIAN BEJAN
Constructal trees are composed of wide, fast
channels that branch into slower, thinner channels

13. ALEX WISSNER-GROSS
“Intelligence is an engine for maximizing
future freedom of action.”

14. ENTROPIC CHESS
A strategy for opening up options for as many of
pieces as possible so a plan naturally emerges

15. ALEX WISSNER-GROSS
Relativistic statistical arbitrage applies model
of human reflex arcs to high-speed trading

16. MAXWELL’S DEMON
A smart partition separates cool particles from
warm to create a pressure difference

17. THE CLASSIFIER
Machine learning techniques plot data in order
to separate them into distinct groupings

18. BJ FOGG
The Fogg Behavior Model is a two factor
optimization between motivation and ability

19. NIR EYAL
Eyal’s Hook Model iterates through triggers,
actions, variable rewards and investments

20. 3. FAILURES OF FLOW

21. CONSTRUCTAL TUMOR
Unnaturally disproportionate flow systems are
evidence of a lack of freedom or corruption

22. IDEA TRANSMISSION
The challenge of language is how to flow
images through another’s mind reliably

23. 4. POWER OF VISUALIZATION

24. FAMO.US
This new JavaScript framework assures smooth 60 fps
animations by making everything happens in 16 ms

25. THE TWO MAN BOBSLED
The US Olympic team had a new sled
designed by BMW and a gold medal driver

26. THE TWO MAN BOBSLED
The Russian team had 200 training runs to the
US teams’ 40 and the Russians won every run