Maximum Power Principle - Proposals For Maximum Power Principle As 4th Thermodynamic Law

Proposals For Maximum Power Principle As 4th Thermodynamic Law

It has been pointed out by Boltzmann that the fundamental object of contention in the life-struggle, in the evolution of the organic world, is available energy. In accord with this observation is the principle that, in the struggle for existence, the advantage must go to those organisms whose energy-capturing devices are most efficient in directing available energy into channels favorable to the preservation of the species.

A.J.Lotka 1922a, p. 147

...it seems to this author appropriate to unite the biological and physical traditions by giving the Darwinian principle of natural selection the citation as the fourth law of thermodynamics, since it is the controlling principle in rate of heat generation and efficiency settings in irreversible biological processes.

H.T.Odum 1963, p. 437

...it may be time to recognize the maximum power principle as the fourth thermodynamic law as suggested by Lotka.

H.T.Odum 1994

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