Maximisation Principles and Daisyworld

TL;DR

This paper explores whether Daisyworld, a self-organising system, can be described by a single optimization principle, and finds that it maximizes life rather than energy production, challenging the maximum entropy production principle.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Daisyworld's equilibrium state is governed by maximizing life, not energy, providing new insights into self-organising systems.

Findings

Daisyworld does not follow the maximum energy production principle.

The system self-organizes to maximize the amount of life.

This challenges existing principles like MEP in self-organising systems.

Abstract

We investigate whether the equilibrium time averaged state of a self-organising system with many internal degrees of freedom, 2D- daisyworld, can be described by optimising a single quantity. Unlike physical systems where a principle of maximum energy production has been observed, Daisyworld follows evolutionary dynamics rather than Hamiltonian dynamics. We find that this is sufficient to invalidate the MEP principle, finding instead a different principle, that the system self-organises to a state which maximises the amount of life.