6 Cosmological and Biological Reproducibility: Limits on the Maximum Entropy Production Principle

Abstract

The Maximum Entropy Production principle (MEP) seems to be restricted to reproducible dissipative structures. To apply it to cosmology and biology, reproducibility needs to be quantified. If we could replay the tape of the universe, many of the same structures (planets, stars, galaxies) would be reproduced as the universe expanded and cooled, and to these the MEP principle should apply. Whether the concept of MEP can be applied to life depends on the reproducibility of biological evolution and therefore on our ability to distinguish the quirky from the generic features of life. Parallel long term experiments in bacterial evolution can be used to test for biological reproducibility.