Evolution is not the best scientific model for the origin of species

Con's opening statement in Round 2, “It is not possible to prove absolutely that evolution is the best model, but if a better model is known, it should be almost trivial to show that evolution is not the best. This is not a debate over whether or not the Theory of Evolution is a good model; it is a debate over whether or not there is a better model.”“Almost trivial” is relative, and a function of shared knowledge with common background on the subject at hand. Pro has presented a better model, a new model relative to the traditional “Theory of Evolution.” This model unifies the reoccurring patterns found throughout nature that have long puzzled even the most devoted proponents of Darwin's theory of evolution--and gives fuel to its critics. The Constructal Law serves both proponents and opponents over the notion of “intelligent design,” where the traditional “Theory of Evolution,” serves mostly opponents. For example, the following YouTube video short gives an overview of the Constructal Law:Addressing the concerns Con made in Round 3, throughout nature, there is pattern symmetry that reappears in the form of branching. In a flash, a lightning bolt creates a brilliant structure of roots and branches in order to quickly discharge electricity by the flow of electrons seeking the path of least resistance. Over many years river basins have evolved a similar treelike architecture with smaller streams feeding into a main channel, economically moving the flow of water. This symmetry continues in cardiovascular systems feeding oxygen-rich blood flowing through the aorta, which then branches into arteries and capillaries, thereby reaching every section of the body as effectively as possible. Treelike structures are but one manifestation of the Constructal Law. A more complex example is the design of animals. Governed by the Constructal Law, all animals have evolved to cover a greater distance per unit of energy, thus increasing their flow of mass across the landscape. This accounts for the scaling patterns across the animal kingdom. For example, a shark slicing through water, with a rabbit hopping across the field, to a hawk gliding through the air. All animals scale with striking similarity and predictability in everything from their respiratory requirements to the size of organs to speed of locomotion and frequency of stride. Environmental and genetic factors matter, but the Constructal Law elegantly predicts the structural constraints that reduce the pool of potential outcomes. In the same way that soil erosion is the mechanism by which the designs of rivers might come into form, Natural Selection is a mechanism by which flow efficiency in biological life is increased.Amazingly, the Constructal Law even extends into other facets of life, shaping everything from traffic patterns to hierarchical flowcharts in corporations, the sciences, information systems, academia, political bodies, even the evolution of morality; as the moral order guides an individual in the prudent exercise of judgment relative to social norms, going with the social flow, minimizing civil resistance. The Constructal Law governs the symmetry of finite-size systems in evolution driven by flow dynamics relative to resistance. This Law is revolutionary because it is a law of physics--and not just of biology, hydrology, geology, geophysics, or engineering. It governs any system, anytime, anywhere, encompassing inanimate (rivers, lightning bolts, etc), animate (trees, animals, etc), and engineered phenomena (technology, food production, medicine, etc), as well as the evolving flows of social constructs such as knowledge, language, and culture. All designs arise and evolve according to the same law. Con concluded in Round 3, “Pro's sources have shown that there is a reputable scientist who promotes this law. I will remind Pro that to base his argument on the word of an expert is an appeal to authority fallacy. He must also be able to show that his expert witness has valid arguments pertinent to the topic of the debate.” Con made a good point about Adrian Bejan (that “reputable scientist”) who promotes the Constructal Law. This Law is relatively new (the late 1990s) where the community of evolutionist is in the natural scientific phase of verification. This phase could take many years to move the community one way or the other. As it did for Albert Einstein at the turn of last century, claiming Newtonian Physics was incorrect; he too at one point, was the only “reputable scientist who promotes this law” [Special Relativity, his 1905 paper “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”]. Note, another historic paper on flow, that is, “Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies.” In Round 2, Con took the typical path of getting into the weeds of DNA mechanics trying to decipher the bleeding edge in research, cherry-picking a segment from the vast amount of literature with such conclusions as stated by Con, “... there are various reasons evolutionist cannot agree to the specifics of phylogenetic trees, there are multiple reasonable models.” And so on. Evolutionist working at the level of deciphering DNA and its associated atomic and quantum mechanics, have a lot of work ahead to formulize evolution at the DNA-scale to match the completeness of evolution found in the Constructal Law at the finite-size-scale. In other words, as evolutionist struggle with a unify theory at the DNA level, the Constructal Law achieved unification of evolution at the finite-size level for both animate and inanimate systems. Therefore, the Constructal Law is the best model for the origin of species. The emergence of biological organisms was a wondrous event, but it was not the magic moment when life suddenly appeared. It was not the start of evolution but a plot twist in the larger story of mass and energy flows being shaped by the Constructal Law. Life--flow, with freely morphing configuration--was there from the start. Treating life as flow, the Constructal Law collapses the false distinctions between the animate and the inanimate, providing a single, universal Law that accounts for all design and evolution in nature.