Entropy-Driven Altruism and the Collapse of Truth- Seeking Intelligence: A Metatheoretical Reconstruction

This paper advances Entropy-Driven Altruism (EDA) as the necessary successor to truth-

correspondence epistemology in contexts of runaway complexity, systemic fragility, and

computational intractability. Operating within a post-correspondence linguistic space where

"truth," "falsity," and "reality" function as unnecessary tokens rather than operational guides,

EDA reconceives intelligence as entropy management under constraint rather than accurate

representation under ideal conditions. The framework integrates three formally compatible

components: (1) Shannon entropy as the governing principle for biological and cultural

evolution, replacing fitness maximization; (2) Rule-of-Inference Memetics (RIM), treating

inference patterns as physically instantiated replicators subject to entropic selection; and (3)

attractor-based navigation, where systemic coherence replaces correspondence accuracy as the

criterion of intelligent action. The paper argues that Darwinian natural selection and

Kropotkinian mutual aid are not competing theories but complementary expressions of

entropy dynamics at different organizational scales. Altruism emerges not as an evolutionary

puzzle requiring special explanation but as the thermodynamically necessary configuration for

systems approaching critical fragility thresholds. This work is offered as philosophy of science

—a metatheoretical critique of Normal Science practice—not as science requiring empirical

validation within existing paradigms.

Mathematical expressions are in marked down format.