The Free Energy Requirements of Biological Organisms; Implications for Evolution
Recent advances in nonequilibrium statistical physics have provided unprecedented insight into the thermodynamics of dynamic processes. The author recently used these advances to extend Landauer’s semi-formal reasoning concerning the thermodynamics of bit erasure, to derive the minimal free energy r...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2016-04-01
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| Series: | Entropy |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/18/4/138 |
| _version_ | 1828746612080377856 |
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| author | David H. Wolpert |
| author_facet | David H. Wolpert |
| author_sort | David H. Wolpert |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recent advances in nonequilibrium statistical physics have provided unprecedented insight into the thermodynamics of dynamic processes. The author recently used these advances to extend Landauer’s semi-formal reasoning concerning the thermodynamics of bit erasure, to derive the minimal free energy required to implement an arbitrary computation. Here, I extend this analysis, deriving the minimal free energy required by an organism to run a given (stochastic) map π from its sensor inputs to its actuator outputs. I use this result to calculate the input-output map π of an organism that optimally trades off the free energy needed to run π with the phenotypic fitness that results from implementing π. I end with a general discussion of the limits imposed on the rate of the terrestrial biosphere’s information processing by the flux of sunlight on the Earth. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T04:26:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f021aa87186a4ff5a89d9b3afed916da |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1099-4300 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T04:26:49Z |
| publishDate | 2016-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Entropy |
| spelling | doaj.art-f021aa87186a4ff5a89d9b3afed916da2022-12-22T02:12:15ZengMDPI AGEntropy1099-43002016-04-0118413810.3390/e18040138e18040138The Free Energy Requirements of Biological Organisms; Implications for EvolutionDavid H. Wolpert0Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USARecent advances in nonequilibrium statistical physics have provided unprecedented insight into the thermodynamics of dynamic processes. The author recently used these advances to extend Landauer’s semi-formal reasoning concerning the thermodynamics of bit erasure, to derive the minimal free energy required to implement an arbitrary computation. Here, I extend this analysis, deriving the minimal free energy required by an organism to run a given (stochastic) map π from its sensor inputs to its actuator outputs. I use this result to calculate the input-output map π of an organism that optimally trades off the free energy needed to run π with the phenotypic fitness that results from implementing π. I end with a general discussion of the limits imposed on the rate of the terrestrial biosphere’s information processing by the flux of sunlight on the Earth.http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/18/4/138thermodynamics of computationLandauer boundinformation processing rate of the biosphere |
| spellingShingle | David H. Wolpert The Free Energy Requirements of Biological Organisms; Implications for Evolution Entropy thermodynamics of computation Landauer bound information processing rate of the biosphere |
| title | The Free Energy Requirements of Biological Organisms; Implications for Evolution |
| title_full | The Free Energy Requirements of Biological Organisms; Implications for Evolution |
| title_fullStr | The Free Energy Requirements of Biological Organisms; Implications for Evolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Free Energy Requirements of Biological Organisms; Implications for Evolution |
| title_short | The Free Energy Requirements of Biological Organisms; Implications for Evolution |
| title_sort | free energy requirements of biological organisms implications for evolution |
| topic | thermodynamics of computation Landauer bound information processing rate of the biosphere |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/18/4/138 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidhwolpert thefreeenergyrequirementsofbiologicalorganismsimplicationsforevolution AT davidhwolpert freeenergyrequirementsofbiologicalorganismsimplicationsforevolution |