Natural selection doesn't invent the fundamental units. It has these building blocks and you build on that. The idea of optimization permeates all of physics. That meant I could put this whole structure, these ideas, optimization, space filling, network has to go everywhere. And so it is across the biosphere,. they don't change with size.
In our last episode, you heard all about the relationship between a mammal's weight and its metabolic rate, and how this holds true regardless of the size of the mammal. You heard other examples of so-called scaling laws, and how these laws seem to be guided by the number four.
In this episode, we're joined again by Geoffrey West, Shannan Distinguished Professor and Former President of the Santa Fe Institute. Geoffrey is going to explain why when we double the size of an animal, we only increase its metabolic rate by three quarters. He's going to explain why the number four is behind these curious laws, and he's going to reveal how you and I are fractals.
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