There is a newer version of the record available.

Published July 17, 2025 | Version v2
Peer review Open

The Entropic Arrow: Reframing the Direction of Time as a Statistical Necessity for Life"

Description

Why does time only move forward? This work reframes that timeless question, showing that what we experience as time’s arrow is really the universe’s unstoppable drift toward higher entropy. By connecting thermodynamics, probability, and the requirements for life, it argues that without this rise in entropy, no energy flows could power stars, planets, or living systems. If entropy didn’t increase, we wouldn’t be here to ask why time flows at all.

Files

The_Entropic_Arrow__Reframing_the_Direction_of_Time_as_a_Statistical_Necessity_for_Life (1).pdf

Additional details

Additional titles

Alternative title (English)
The Arrow of Time: An Entropic Imperative for Life's Emergence

References

  • Clausius, R. (1850). On the Moving Force of Heat and the Laws of Heat which may be Deduced Therefrom. Annalen der Physik.
  • Boltzmann, L. (1877). On the Relation of a General Mechanical Theorem to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
  • Prigogine, I. (1977). Self-Organization in Nonequilibrium Systems: From Dissipative Structures to Order through Fluctuations. Wiley.
  • Penrose, R. (1989). The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics. Oxford University Press.
  • Carroll, S. (2010). From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time. Dutton.
  • Einstein, A. (1916). Relativity: The Special and the General Theory. Crown.
  • Hawking, S. (1988). A Brief History of Time. Bantam Books.
  • Gold, T. (1962). The Arrow of Time. American Journal of Physics, 30(6), 403-410.