Hypothesis
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The Driving Force of Natural Selection: Maximizing Entropy Production Rates
Version 1
: Received: 11 June 2024 / Approved: 11 June 2024 / Online: 12 June 2024 (14:52:48 CEST)
How to cite: Wang, L. The Driving Force of Natural Selection: Maximizing Entropy Production Rates. Preprints 2024, 2024060783. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0783.v1 Wang, L. The Driving Force of Natural Selection: Maximizing Entropy Production Rates. Preprints 2024, 2024060783. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202406.0783.v1
Abstract
Although evolutionary theory has yet to furnish a comprehensive rationale for the underlying mechanism of natural selection, it is pertinent to note that the phenomenon transcends the confines of biological systems, exhibiting analogous patterns in physical systems as well. Specifically, isolated and closed systems tend to evolve towards states of progressively increasing entropy. In scenarios where multiple paths for entropy increase are accessible, such systems tend to favor combinations of paths that exhibit the most rapid entropy increase rates. Among the various processes in nature, life activities constitute a salient means of achieving entropy increase. Genetic variation within organisms generates individuals that vary in their rates of entropy increase. As these organisms interact, compete and combine, they form diverse combinations of entropy-increasing pathways. Nature, in turn, selects among these combinations, favoring those that culminate in the fastest entropy increase, thereby propelling the evolution of life. Essentially, the evolution of life is an ongoing exploration of diverse combinations of pathways that maximize entropy increase across various energy pools. Amidst continuous genetic variation and the selective pressure imposed by nature for maximum entropy production rates, information accumulates, leading to a corresponding acceleration in the rate of entropy increase. This natural selection, which favors maximizing the entropy at the fastest possible rate, serves as the ultimate driving force for the origin and evolution of life.
Keywords
The fourth law of thermodynamics; Natural Selection; Origin of Life; Evolution
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Biophysics
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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