Duke University Durham, North Carolina 27708-0300, USA.
Sci Rep. 2014 Feb 10;4:4017. doi: 10.1038/srep04017.
Science holds that the arrow of time in nature is imprinted on one-way (irreversible) phenomena, and is accounted for by the second law of thermodynamics. Here I show that the arrow of time is painted much more visibly on another self-standing phenomenon: the occurrence and change (evolution in time) of flow organization throughout nature, animate and inanimate. This other time arrow has been present in science but not recognized as such since the birth of thermodynamics. It is Maxwell's demon. Translated in macroscopic terms, this is the physics of the phenomenon of design, which is the universal natural tendency of flow systems to evolve into configurations that provide progressively greater access over time, and is summarized as the constructal law of design and evolution in nature. Knowledge is the ability to effect design changes that facilitate human flows on the landscape. Knowledge too flows.
科学认为，自然界的时间箭头铭刻在单向（不可逆）现象上，并由热力学第二定律来解释。在这里，我表明时间箭头在另一个独立的现象上更为明显：即自然界中流动组织的发生和变化（时间演化），包括有生命和无生命的现象。这个时间箭头在热力学诞生之前就已经存在于科学中，但并未被认识到。它就是麦克斯韦妖。用宏观术语来翻译，这就是设计现象的物理学，这是流动系统随着时间的推移而演变成提供越来越大的可访问性的配置的普遍自然趋势，可概括为设计和自然界演化的构形定律。知识是实现设计改变的能力，这有助于人类在景观中流动。知识也在流动。
