Re: Equilibrium, stasis and death

[FAC_BROSSER@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Response to Paul Christensen:
     Here we go again!
     Just to muddy the waters further let me cite Alfred J. Lotka,
_Elements of Physical Biology_, 1925 (reprinted later as _Elements of
Mathematical Biology_), Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, p. 97.
     First he distinguishes stationary states (dead corpses) from
moving equilibria (in modern models could be chaotic).  Then he
notes a "kinematic" concept in which "_velocities vanish_", a
"dynamic" concept in which "_forces_ are balanced in which the
_resultant force vanishes_", and an "energetic" concept in which
"_virtual work_ done in any small displacement compatible with the
constraints _vanishes_", in short minimization of potential energy.
Lotka also saw evolution as an irreversible process driven by the
operation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics with "quasi-equilibria"
(perhaps comparable to "edge of chaos" complexity solutions a la Bak
and Chen and Kauffman) maintained by a "dissipation or degradation of
available energy", in other words, "the biological basis of economics."
     For further discussion see my paper, "The dialogue between the
economic and the ecologic theories of evolution," _Journal of Economic
Behavior and Organization_, March 1992, 17, 195-216.
Barkley Rosser
JMU