Klaus Jaffe

Classical thermodynamics focused on reversible processes in closed systems. Most processes however are irreversible, in both closed and open systems. A non classical thermodynamics is being developed to tackle complex open systems suffering irreversible processes. That is the case for Synergy that emerges from synchronized reciprocal positive feedback loops between a network of diverse actors. For this process to proceed, compatible information from different sources synchronically coordinates the actions of the actors resulting in a nonlinear increase in the useful work or potential energy the system can manage. In contrast noise is produced when incompatible information is mixed. This synergy produced from the coordination of different agents achieves non-linear gains in free energy and in information (negentropy). Free energy can be estimated by proxies such as individual autonomy of an organism, emancipation from the environment, productivity, efficiency, capacity for flexibility, self-regulation, and self-control of behavior; whereas entropy, or the lack of it, is revealed by the degree of synchronized division of ever more specialized labor, structural complexity, information, and dissipation of energy. Empirical examples that provide quantitative data for these phenomena are presented. Results show that increases in free energy density are concomitant with decreases in entropy density. This may be a rule for synergistic processes in non-equilibrium thermodynamics, which is consilient with the first and second laws of classical thermodynamics. Under this light, biological evolution is the task of self reproducing irreversible synergistic systems to discover empirically (through natural, inclusive, and sexual selection) types of order that increase their free energy.

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