Thermodynamics 2.0 | 2022 Program: Sessions and Abstracts
Mon - Wed, July 18 - July 20 , 2022 , Boone, North Carolina
Session P02: Keynote and Plenary (II)
8:30-10:30. Tuesday July 19, 2022
Chair: Ashuwin Vaidya
Title: Time and Beauty
Presenter:
- Adrian Bejan
(Duke University)
Bio-sketch
Adrian Bejan is ranked among the top 0.01% of leading world scientists in the 2019 citations ‘impact’ database. His impact is in top 10 in Engineering worldwide. He is the author of 660 peer refereed articles and 30 books. Most recently, he received the Benjamin Franklin Medal, the Humboldt Research Award, and the Prize of the Turkish Academy of Sciences. His newest book is “Freedom and Evolution”.
Author(s):
- Adrian Bejan
(Duke University)
Abstract:P02.107
Abstract
Time and beauty are two of our most visceral perceptions. Yet, their nature is seldom questioned. In this lecture I will show why we feel that time flies faster as we get older. Perceived time, also called ‘mind time’, is different from clock time. In this context, time is another word for ‘perceived change’. Next, we will discover that beauty is appealing because beautifully-shaped images are scanned faster by two eyes. To observe our immediate surroundings and to understand them faster is highly advantageous to survival; hence, in accord with the constructal law of flow design evolution in nature, there is an underlying evolutionary advantage to our efficient discernment for ideal ratios, shapes, and beauty at large. In the process, key questions to our cognition are answered from physics. Why does the mind ‘try’ to make sense of a new mental image? Why is there a natural tendency to organize a new input and mentally position it among past perceptions? Through physics, the general answer is this: to empower the individual with speed and clarity of thought, understanding, decision-making and more effective movement.
The lecture is based on the new book “TIME AND BEAUTY: Why time flies and beauty never dies”, 2022.