The Natural Philosophy of Work

Work, by dissipative structures (DS), imposes delay on energy gradient degradation. It diverts energy flow into DS maintenance while enhancing energy degradation. DS can be viewed as tradeoffs between enhancing entropy production maximization (the maximum entropy production principle, MEP) by way of convective gradient degradation, and the need to maintain DS form, which is what mediates the convective dissipation. This tradeoff frameworked the origin of living DS. In the Big Bang, the Universe departed increasingly from an ordered state of low entropy. As a result the Second Law (locally, dS> or = 0) became an ever more powerful attractor, insuring that work could have only limited energy efficiency (utilization / throughput). That is, the ‘>’ in ‘dS > or = 0’ increased on average locally as the universe departed further from thermodynamic equilibrium. Energy efficiency becomes significant in the context of possible energy shortage, which implies embodied agency, implying in turn the possibility of some stability into the future. Energy efficiency is needed in living DS which yet serve MEP by becoming relatively less energy efficient when striving. Biodiversity multiplies modes of energy consumption, also furthering MEP by compensating for the diversion of energy flow into the maintenance of living DS. Modular (hierarchical) structure is very stable to perturbations, and also generates the variety requisite for adaptive flexibility, affording as well evolutionary access to increased adjacent possibilities. Dynamical rate separation between hierarchical levels streamlines energy flows, enhancing orderly energy gradient degradation. I conjecture that new levels are interpolated when that fosters MEP overall. Of the three phases of energy flow -low level conduction, mid level convection, and high level explosion -orderly convection associates with DS form, constraining moderated energy flows, and defusing potential explosions.