Natural Classes and Natural Classification

Abstract

Categorization is a natural way for us humans to differentiate one object from another as well as to relate entities to each other. However, are there classes in nature independent of human categorization? And is there a fundamental way of classification free from human cataloging? We consider that all objects can be categorized based on their ultimate composition of elemental building blocks, quanta. Our conjecture parallels that of Noether’s theorem but follows from statistical mechanics of open systems. We conclude that the natural categorization places objects to classes so that free energy is consumed in the least time. While the imperative is universal, any classification is subjective. We relate these resolutions to conventional methods of categorization.