Annila Arto
Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Entropy (Basel). 2021 Nov 27;23(12):1590. doi: 10.3390/e23121590.
Evolution is customarily perceived as a biological process. However, when formulated in terms of physics, evolution is understood to entail everything. Based on the axiom of everything comprising quanta of actions (e.g., quanta of light), statistical physics describes any system evolving toward thermodynamic balance with its surroundings systems. Fluxes of quanta naturally select those processes leveling out differences in energy as soon as possible. This least-time maxim results in ubiquitous patterns (i.e., power laws, approximating sigmoidal cumulative curves of skewed distributions, oscillations, and even the regularity of chaos). While the equation of evolution can be written exactly, it cannot be solved exactly. Variables are inseparable since motions consume driving forces that affect motions (and so on). Thus, evolution is inherently a non-deterministic process. Yet, the future is not all arbitrary but teleological, the final cause being the least-time free energy consumption itself. Eventually, trajectories are computable when the system has evolved into a state of balance where free energy is used up altogether.
进化通常被视为一个生物学过程。然而，从物理学角度阐述时，进化被理解为涵盖一切。基于一切皆由作用量子（如光量子）构成的公理，统计物理学描述了任何朝着与周围系统达到热力学平衡而演化的系统。量子通量自然会选择那些尽快消除能量差异的过程。这种最少时间最大化导致了普遍存在的模式（即幂律，近似于偏态分布的S形累积曲线、振荡，甚至是混沌的规律性）。虽然进化方程可以精确写出，但无法精确求解。变量是不可分割的，因为运动消耗影响运动的驱动力（以此类推）。因此，进化本质上是一个非确定性过程。然而，未来并非完全任意，而是具有目的性的，最终原因是最少时间的自由能量消耗本身。最终，当系统进化到自由能量完全耗尽的平衡状态时，轨迹是可计算的。
