Systems theory, thermodynamics and life: Integrated thinking across ecology, organization and biological evolution.

In this paper we explore the relevance and integration of system theory and thermodynamics in terms of the Earth system. It is proposed that together, these fields explain the evolution, organization, functionality and directionality of life on Earth. We begin by summarizing historical and current thinking on the definition of life itself. We then investigate the evidence for a single unit of life. Given that any definition of life and its levels of organization are intertwined, we explore how the Earth system is structured and functions from an energetic perspective, by outlining relevant thermodynamic theory relating to molecular, metabolic, cellular, individual, population, species, ecosystem and biome organization. We next investigate the fundamental relationships between systems theory and thermodynamics in terms of the Earth system, examining the key characteristics of self-assembly, self-organization (including autonomy), emergence, non-linearity, feedback and sub-optimality. Finally, we examine the relevance of systems theory and thermodynamics with reference to two specific aspects: the tempo and directionality of evolution and the directional and predictable process of ecological succession. We discuss the importance of the entropic drive in understanding altruism, multicellularity, mutualistic and antagonistic relationships and how maximum entropy production theory may explain patterns thought to evidence the intermediate disturbance hypothesis.

No goal is an island: the implications of systems theory for the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have now been in place for 4 years, as the center-piece of the sustainable development program of the United Nations. This paper argues that the Earth system fundamentally represents the organizational framework of the planet and, therefore, any attempt at avoiding the existential threat to humanity that our activities are creating must be integrated within this system. We examine how complex systems function in order to identify the key characteristics that any sustainability policy must possess in order to deliver successful, long-term coexistence of humanity within the biosphere. We then examine what this means in terms of the SDGs, currently the dominant policy document on global sustainability and lying at the heart of Agenda 30. The paper explores what a sustainable program of actions, aimed at properly integrating within the Earth system, should look like, and what changes are needed if humanity is to address the multiple challenges facing us, based on systems theory. Central to this is the acknowledgement of shortcomings in current policy and the urgent need to address these in practice.

In pursuit of the framework behind the biosphere: S-curves, self-assembly and the genetic entropy paradox.

The origins, evolution and functioning of the Biosphere have occupied humankind for as long as recorded history has existed. In this paper we examine the claims of thermodynamics to be the framework within which we can understand the evolution, functioning and development of the Biosphere, exploring the evidence from ecology, molecular science and evolutionary biology, and particularly focussing upon the maximum entropy production principle (MEPP), and its explanatory potential in terms of many of the logistic relationships found within the Biosphere. We introduce the genetic entropy paradox, where the DNA increases in terms of internal information entropy, as the genetic code is continuously randomized through mutation, and yet this leads to increasing external entropy production, as increasingly more complicated structures and functions are produced in the form of new protein morphologies and metabolic pathways (again determined by the bioenergetic context). We suggest that the central dogma acts as a form of entropy exchange mechanism, but at the core of this is change in information entropy, which increases within the genetic code, and decreases within the organism. This would appear to be a truly unique event, and highlights a key interaction between two levels of organization within the Biosphere, the genome and the proteome, in terms of entropy production. The Biosphere is seen as being composed of a series of self-organizing sub-groups, each maximizing entropy production within the constraints of time, feedback and system constraints. The entropic production of the Biosphere is thus an emergent property.