Universal natural law and universal human behavior

Jing Chen Thermo Link Research 808- 8871 Lansdowne Road, Richmond, BC. V6X 3X8. Canada Tel: 1-604-270-3307 Fax: 1-604-267-1327 Email: thermo_link@yahoo.com First draft: November, 2001 Revise: April, 2002

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Universal natural law and universal human behavior

Abstract People generally agree that life processes are thermodynamic processes and that the lower needs of human beings, such as eating, are thermodynamic processes. But the higher needs, such as literature, arts, are seen as beyond the working of the entropy law. However, good poems and distinct piece of paintings are rare events, characterized by high information content, which represents low entropy level. The developments in cognitive sciences reveal that the higher needs of human beings are methods of attracting members of the opposite sex in the competition for reproduction, or sexual selection. Organisms have evolved the ability to reproduce sexually for about one billion years. Since the entropy law, which states that closed systems tend towards states of higher entropy, is the most universal law of the nature, it is natural that the display of low entropy levels evolves as the universal signal of attractiveness in sexual and social communication. From poem writing to money making, the pursuit of low entropy is the main drive of human behavior. This common understanding of animal and human behavior will allow us to utilize the insights developed from different disciplines systematically.

Keywords: entropy; information; human behavior; sexual selection; natural selection; instinct JEL Categories: A1, D8, Q4,

Universal natural law and universal human behavior

1. Introduction People generally agree that life processes are thermodynamic processes and that the lower needs of human beings, such as eating, are thermodynamic processes. But the higher needs, such as literature, arts, are seen as beyond the working of the entropy law. However, good poems and distinct piece of paintings are rare events, characterized by high information content, which represents low entropy level. (Shannon, 1948; Bennett, 1988) The developments in cognitive sciences reveal that the higher needs of human beings are methods of attracting members of the opposite sex in the competition for reproduction, or sexual selection. (Pinker, 1997; Miller, 2000) Organisms have evolved the ability to reproduce sexually for about one billion years. (Margulis, 1998) Since the entropy law, which states that closed systems tend towards states of higher entropy, is the most universal law of the nature, it is very natural for organisms to have evolved the ability to use a form of low entropy as the universal signal of attractiveness. This work is to elaborate on the observation that extracting low entropy from the environment and maintaining a low level of entropy is the motivation behind most human behaviors. The understanding that life processes and information processes are thermodynamic processes has profoundly transformed sciences in the past fifty years. (Schrodinger, 1944; Wiener, 1948; Shannon, 1948) In economics, however, the applications of thermodynamic theory have been quite restricted. (Georgescu-Roegen, 1971) A major reason is that the applications of thermodynamic theory are mainly restricted to food, energy, natural resources and other obvious thermodynamic issues that are generally related to the cost side of productions. The observation that the entropy law not only determines the lower needs of human beings but higher needs as well, provides an explanation for the demand side of economic activities. So the entropy law offers a unified understanding of economic activities. 2. The pursuit of low entropy as the main drive of human behavior Living organisms need to extract low entropy from the environment, to defend their low entropy sources and to reduce the diffusion of the low entropy. Biologists call this struggle for staying in low entropy states natural selection. In human societies, agriculture is the main low entropy source. Clothing and housing reduces the diffusion of low entropy. Part of health care systems aim at defending our own low entropy sources to be accessed by viruses and bacteria. The military forces are established to extract low entropy from others and to defend own low entropy structures. Sexual selection is the struggle between the individuals of one sex, generally the males, to communicate their attractiveness to the other sex in order to form a partnership for reproduction. Human beings, as well as other sexually reproducing species, are the successful descendants of the earliest sexually reproducing species about a billion years

ago. For the system of communication to be successful in different kinds of environments over such a long time, the mode of communication has to be simple, stable and universal. Since the entropy law is the most universal law of the nature, it is natural that the display of low entropy levels evolves as the universal signal of attractiveness in the process of sexual selection. Since information is negative entropy and informational entropy is equivalent to physical entropy, (Shannon, 1948; Bennett, 1988) a state of high information content is equivalent to a state of low physical entropy. Indeed the low entropy state is the main way of advertisement for most sexually reproducing species. Large body size, colorful and highly complex feather patterns with large amount of information content and exotic structures are all different representations of low entropy states. Since a low probability event corresponds to a state of low entropy, a novel feature is often attractive in the competition for reproduction. It has been generally recognized that sexual selection is the main drive of diversity. (Miller, 2000) Besides communication with members of the opposite sex, social animals need to communicate their attractiveness and power in order to influence the behavior of others. (Wilson, 1975) For the same reason as in sexual selection, the most general signal is low entropy. Among all social species, human beings have developed the most complex social structure. The creation of distinct art works, the demonstration of athletic prowess, the accumulation of wealth, and conspicuous consumption - all of which represent different forms of low entropy - are the major methods of advertising ones attractiveness. As the social groups become larger and the division of labor becomes finer, people become less familiar with each other in their daily interactions, which make it more difficult for people to judge the ability of others. The need for people to advertise their attractiveness through external accumulation of low entropy also becomes stronger. people usually signal their capability by buying more expensive houses, cars, clothes, going to more expensive restaurants and attending more exclusive schools. The great efforts human beings put into non-food activities reflect the high cost of communication in a large and complex society. Historical evidences show that the transaction costs have been increasing over time. (Wallis and North, 1986) 3. Concluding remarks Important problems often attract works from different fields. However, theories from different fields often offer sharply different opinions. For example, there is little consensus about the cause of population growth among economists, demographers and biologists. (Becker, 1993; Weeks, 1999; Hardin, 1993) Understanding that the same natural law governs both human and animal behaviors allows us to develop the common foundation of economics and biology from thermodynamic theory, which will help us utilize the insights developed from different disciplines systematically. (Chen, 2001)

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