Tortoise, hare and the maximum power principle

Tortoise, hare and the maximum power principle

The maximum power principle is a well-established theory in ecology. Essentially, it is the story of tortoise and hare reversed. It states that hare, which has higher power output, will triumph tortoise.

The lineage of tortoise has survived for about 200 million years, much longer than the lineage of hare, about 40 million years. Over such a long period of time, tortoises have not been eliminated. Positive returns, not maximum power, is the essence of life.

The idea of maximum power in life has a long history. Lotka had proposed the idea about a hundred years ago. Later Howard Odum formally presented the maximum power principle in his writings.  Now it seems to be everywhere.

The maximum power principle is really the entropy law, broadly understood. It is an approximate property of all physical systems, living, or not living. But living systems fine tune physical systems to achieve positive returns. Before we sleep, we will turn off lights, reducing power out, not maximizing power output. At night, some hydro dams will lower the volume of water flow and power output, saving energy during low usage time, not maximizing power output. In winter, bears lower their metabolic rate, to save energy, not to maximize power output, so they can last the long and cold winter. It is through finetuning our power output, not always maximizing power output, that we achieve positive returns. The diversity of life is the diversity of designs of power output.

True, we might maximize our power output over a period of time. In soccer games, we don’t maximize power out every minute. We probably maximize power output over ninety minutes. But we might maximize power output over one hundred twenty minutes. We might even save some energy for next game. More importantly, play time is not everything. In our daily life, we need to decide how much to train, for short term performance, for long term health. We plan, we decide, we make choices. The criterion is return, not automatic maximum power.

In economics, the measurement of GDP is a kind of maximum power principle. GDP, or power output, may not be a good measure of what we achieve. Spending two hours commuting daily is energy intensive, and GDP enhancing. But it doesn’t produce much useful. When fertility has dropped below replacement rate, stimulating GDP will further depress fertility rates. Shifting resources from babies to seniors will stimulate GDP, as taking care of babies is less monetized than taking care of seniors.

By consistently apply the measure of return, for individuals, for businesses, and for the whole society, we can detect the possible decline of a system much earlier than the standard economic theory. But maximum power principle, in various forms, is deeply entrenched in academia. Maximum power principle is sometimes called the fifth law of thermodynamics, with several results contending the title of the fourth law of thermodynamics. When some result turns into a law, it becomes offensive to question it.  

An earlier related article

On Maximum Power Principle

https://blog.creaders.net/u/10630/202511/532555.html