Thermodynamic selection: The role of entropy waste elimination in evolution.

Abstract

Evolution is often viewed as a competition among agents for resources, effectively the harnessing of negative entropy or free energy in nonequilibrium states. In this work, we examine how constraints on entropic waste elimination shape evolutionary outcomes and affect the choices made by competing agents. We build on the Babajanyan-Koonin-Allahverdyan model that represents agents as heat engines in a game-theoretic setting. We introduce a constraint on the system's total cooling rate, arising from its interaction with a low-temperature heat bath that represents the system's elimination of entropic waste. We show that imposing such a constraint modifies the Nash equilibrium solutions of the game. We identify scenarios where the cap on the combined waste-removal drives the agents toward different optimal strategies than in the unconstrained case.