Thermodynamics 2.0 Program: Sessions and Abstracts
Mon - Wed, June 22 - June 24 , 2020 , Massachusetts, USA
Session T17: Biophysical economics
12:00-13:00. Wednesday June 24, 2020
Chair: Jurij Renkas
Title: Proposed principles of economics: Bio-symmetry and hierarchic symmetry
Presenter:
- Garvin Boyle
(Orrery Software, Richmond, Ontario, Canada)
Bio-sketch
Garvin H Boyle is a retiree with a varied career as a teacher of mathematics and science, and also as a computer systems design manager in both the Canadian Government and in the private sector. In a professional role, he developed computer systems for national and international clientele, and managed annual budgets of over $20M CDN. However, his life-long hobby, which he has enjoyed for over 50 years, is building computer models of dynamic systems. Since retirement in 2008, he has focused on building models of economic systems and studying the issues around long-term sustainability. He became deeply concerned that the current global economy is not sustainable, and that mainstream economic theory is not competent to solve the problem. He was also concerned that the younger generation is going to face severe economic distress. He has come to believe that the world desperately needs a new science-based theory of economics to guide it through the difficult times ahead. This concern led him use his models to investigate two new branches of economic theory: Ecological Economics, and then Biophysical Economics. He has taken his computer models to economic conferences across North America, and made presentations about them from Washington, DC to Beijing.
Author(s):
- Garvin Boyle
(Orrery Software, Richmond, Ontario, Canada)
Abstract:T17.W138
Abstract
The word “symmetry” has a special meaning in the hard sciences. We start by examining the technical meaning in that context, reviewing the role it has played in the hard sciences, abstracting the implications, and considering the wider possibilities for application. We then place the disciplines of sociology and economics into the context of a ladder of sciences, in which each level of the ladder is more complex and more inclusive than the lower rungs, with sociology and economics occupying the second-from-top and top rungs on the ladder. In that context we examine two proposed symmetries for social and economic systems, as follows:
By the principle of biosymmetry, the problems of anthropocentrism and externalities are resolved. The concept of an economic system is redefined in a non-anthropocentric fashion, opening the door for a Copernican-like revolution in economic world view. We start with the recent but well-studied concept of anthroposphere, and identify three non-overlapping key components: the biologically human components, the human technosphere and the human noösphere. We name it as a specific example of a more general concept which we call phenosphere, and show how each species has an economy having all three key components dependent on its phenotype. Finally, we relate the collection of resulting inter-species economies using concepts well-studied in ecology such as parasitism, commensalism and mutualism.
By the principle of hierarchic symmetry a methodology is proposed to transport the wealth of scientific concepts from the hard sciences into a new science-based economic theory. The concept of universal dynamic is explored, and a prototype framework for organizing and categorizing universal dynamics is presented. Two examples that link thermodynamics to economic phenomena are presented, along with the agent-based models that enabled their study.
Keywords: principles of science, ladder of sciences, gauge theories, universal dynamics, econodynamic framework.