Wiley, EO T., and Daniel R. Brooks. “Nonequilibrium thermodynamics and evolution: a response to Lovtrup.” Systematic Zoology 32, no. 2 (1983): 209-219.
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Lovtrup (1983) has recently criticized our first formulation of a new theoretical frame-work for biological evolution (Wiley and Brooks, 1982). We were dismayed that he misconstrued our efforts so badly, having both been prompted to question neo-Darwinism by reading criticisms written by, among others, Lovtrup himself. We would like to take this opportunity to address Lovtrup’s concerns, in the event that they are shared by others as well. To begin, we wanted to stress the connection between biological evolution and non-equilibrium thermodynamics, or physical evolution in general, precisely because we agree with Lovtrup that any valid theory of evolution must have as its teleomatic basis non-equilibrium thermodynamics. We are happy that he has accepted our basic premise, but must disagree that it represents nothing new for biology. We may see this clearly in a number of ways.