The Science and Philosophy of the "Thermodynamic School" of Evolution
This book was written by H. T. Odum and Elisabeth C. Odum and published in 1976. The first paragraph of the Introduction states: “Everything is based on energy. Energy is the source and control of all things, all values, and all the actions of human beings and nature. This simple truth, long known to scientists…
This paper was written by James J. Zucchetto and published in 2004. Zucchetto worked with Odum as a graduate student and in this short article he provides a reflection on Odum’s paper thirty years after it was published, which describes, among other things, how Odum used the maximum power principle to explain the development of…
Read More “Reflections on Howard T. Odum’s paper: Energy, Ecology and Economics, Ambio, 1973” »
This article was written by H. T. Odum and published in 1973. In it Odum describes how energy and the maximum power principle relate to economic development. Of particular interest, he describes how, in times when there are limited available resources, the maximum power principle leads societies to shift to more efficiency and diverse processes…
This paper was written by H. T. Odum and published in 1977. It provides a detailed analysis of the relation between moral values, energy, and the maximum power principle. It describes the difference between the moral values in social systems that are growing in power and those that, as a result of a limited amount…
This paper was written by the Australian atmospheric physicist Garth William Paltridge and published in 1975. The summary of this paper states: “It is found that the mean meridional distribution of temperature, cloud cover and meridional energy flux can be predicted with extraordinary accuracy by application of a simple minimum principle to a multibox model…
Read More “Global dynamics and climate — a system of minimum entropy exchange” »
This book was written by H. T. Odum and published in 1971. It was the third book written by Odum. It provides a comprehensive picture of how his unique view of systems ecology, including the maximum power principle and his energy systems language, applies to ecological, electrical, economic, and political systems. He critically analyzes moral…
This essay was written by Ludwig Boltzmann and published in 1886. In it, Boltzmann writes: “The general struggle for existence of animal beings is therefore not a struggle for raw materials—these, for organisms, are air, water and soil, all abundantly available—nor for energy, which exists in plenty in any body in the form of heat,…
This paper was written by Alfred Lotka and published in 1945. It provides the longest published argument for his principle of maximum energy flux. In this paper, he also uses this principle to critically evaluate the behavior of human beings, including that evidenced in World War II. Alfred Lotka. The law of Evolution as a…
This paper was written by Alfred Lotka and published in 1922. In this paper, Lotka argues that the principle of natural selection is a physical principle that applies to all systems that develop out of equilibrium. Consequently, he concluded that this principle should be considered “as a third law of thermodynamics (or a fourth, if…
This paper was written by H. T. Odum and Richard C. Pinkerton and published in 1955. In this pivotal paper, Odum and Pinkerton argue that there is a tradeoff between efficiency and speed that enables physical and biological system to maximize useful power output. This tradeoff is influenced by the constraints on natural systems, like…