[Paper Review] Biocosmology: Biology from a cosmological perspective

Marina Cortês, Stuart Kauffman+2 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Apr 20, 2022

Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution20 citations

TL;DR

The paper argues that life is a radically non-ergodic Type III system in the Universe, requiring a blend of reductionist and functional explanations in cosmology, and it proposes a fourth law of thermodynamics.

ABSTRACT

The Universe contains everything that exists, including life. And all that exists, including life, obeys universal physical laws. Do those laws then give adequate foundations for a complete explanation of biological phenomena? We discuss whether and how cosmology and physics must be modified to be able to address certain questions which arise at their intersection with biology. We show that a universe that contains life, in the form it has on Earth, is in a certain sense radically non-ergodic, in that the vast majority of possible organisms will never be realized. We argue from this that complete explanations in cosmology require a mixture of reductionist and functional explanations.

Motivation & Objective

• Motivate how cosmology and physics must be modified to address questions at the biology–cosmology interface.
• Distinguish three cosmological statistical system types (Type I–III) and analyze their implications for living systems.
• Argue that complete explanations of biology in the Universe require both reductionist and functional approaches.
• Propose a fourth law of thermodynamics to account for non-equilibrium, energy-flow–driven systems.
• Define life within the Type III framework and discuss consequences for cosmology and biology.

Proposed method

• Introduce and formalize three system types (Type I, II, III) via thermalization times and constraints.
• Analyze ergodicity, equipartition, and metastable states in cosmological contexts (e.g., stars, black holes, nucleosynthesis).
• Argue that Type III systems are radically non-ergodic with vast state spaces and require functional explanations for understanding biological phenomena.
• Discuss the limitations of pure determinism and reductionism for Type III systems and the need for blended methodologies.
• Propose a fourth law of thermodynamics to describe persistent energy flows in non-equilibrium systems.
• Provide a definition of life anchored in Type III dynamics and energy/entropy considerations.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 What kinds of explanations are necessary to elucidate biology within a cosmological context?
• RQ2 How should cosmology be revised to accommodate biological phenomena and life as part of the Universe?
• RQ3 What distinguishes Type III (life-like) systems from Type I and II in terms of ergodicity and energy flow?
• RQ4 How can we define life and biological complexity within a cosmological statistical framework?
• RQ5 What is the role of a prospective fourth law of thermodynamics in governing non-equilibrium, energy-flow systems?

Key findings

• Living systems are radically anti-ergodic: only a tiny fraction of possible states are realized.
• Type III systems (e.g., biospheres) never reach equilibrium due to continuous energy flow, making purely reductionist explanations insufficient.
• A mixture of reductionist and functional explanations is required to account for life within cosmology.
• The biosphere and life are sustained by low-entropy energy sources (e.g., the Sun) and can persist over cosmological timescales.
• A proposed fourth law of thermodynamics aims to formalize the role of energy flows in maintaining non-equilibrium, complex structures.
• Life, as observed on Earth, exemplifies a regime where standard ergodic assumptions fail and new explanatory frameworks are needed.