THE EVOLUTIONARY IMPERATIVE

A compact work offers a new scientific explanation of the nature of change and its direction, including a consideration of the broader implications for society.

According to Beck and Irwin, ever since the universe came into existence, change has been constant but occurring “simultaneously in opposite directions at different levels of resolution.” In other words, evolution has been characterized by an “inverse relationship between entropy and organization.” While energy continuously dissipates entropically, the “granularity” of the world increases, observable in “local pockets of complexity.” The authors propose to understand change as the result of two basic laws: the “Second Law of Thermodynamics,” which necessitates that energy is released from labor, thereby increasing disorder; and the lesser-known “Principle of Least Action,” which essentially states that the most efficient use of energy is undertaken for a particular measure of work. Beck and Irwin contend that they can account for this apparent contradiction—a generally rising disorder and snippets of local organization—since the energy demands of the former law are channeled or directed by the informational demands of the latter. This combination explains all manner of evolution, abiotic and living: “Regardless of the time-scale or magnitude of changes in the physical world, all of them can be traced to the fundamental forces of nature, which create gradients of mass and potential energy, then resolve those gradients in accordance with the SLT, along the specific pathways that the PLA demands.” The authors not only furnish a surprisingly accessible account of the theory they propose—of course, this intellectual terrain is forbiddingly difficult to navigate by nature—but also lucidly outline the implications for human society, including a consideration of ecological issues. The discussions of human behavior, in particular morality, are predictably less sophisticated (and less empirical, for that matter). Beck and Irwin try to avoid a thorough reduction of human actions to physical phenomena—they concede that human experiences, especially emotions, “do not derive in any obvious way from thermodynamics.” Still, the discussions of cultural and moral life have a leaden quality to them—at one point, they suggest that the development of a “scientific calculus of ethical behavior” is forthcoming, a nonsensical notion. Nevertheless, this is an intriguing and concise introduction to a challenging theory.

An absorbing and readable synopsis of a comprehensive theory of change.