---
slug: paper-kondepudi-d-k-de-bari-b-and-dixon-j-a-2020-dissipative-structures-organisms-and
title: Kondepudi, De Bari, Dixon (2020) on Dissipative Structures, Organisms and Evolution
canonical: https://miscsubjects.com/a/paper-kondepudi-d-k-de-bari-b-and-dixon-j-a-2020-dissipative-structures-organisms-and
---

## What the Work Establishes

Kondepudi, De Bari and Dixon summarize experiments on electrically and chemically driven nonequilibrium systems. These systems form dissipative structures that display organism-like behavior. The structures evolve toward states of higher entropy production.

The paper grounds this in Prigogine’s nonequilibrium thermodynamics. It contrasts dissipative structures with designed machines.

## Core Results and Primary Passages

The abstract states: “Our recent research revealed that some of these structures exhibit organism-like behavior, reinforcing the earlier expectation that the study of dissipative structures will provide insights into the nature of organisms and their origin. In this article, we summarize our study of organism-like behavior in electrically and chemically driven systems. The highly complex behavior of these systems shows the time evolution to states of higher entropy production.”

Section 1.3 defines dissipative structures as self-organized states maintained by irreversible processes that increase entropy production.

## Convergence Patterns Touched

The work evidences convergence from energy flows to structure and from structure to memory-like persistence. It shows evolution of behavior in physical systems under nonequilibrium conditions.

It touches patterns listed in the synthesis: flow networks, bounded order from dissipation, and scale-invariant self-organization.

## Relation to OIP/GRAIN Synthesis

The paper supports the grain of the universe as energy flows that reliably produce structural patterns. It supplies a mechanistic bridge from dissipation to organism-like autonomy.

It stops short of the full Ladder from difference to mind. The Mirror Layer reader-inside-system is not addressed.

## Honest Limits and Disconfirming Edges

All evidence comes from laboratory analogs, not living cells. No direct data on genetic evolution or consciousness appears.

Reductionist accounts can still attribute the behaviors to underlying molecular forces without invoking higher organizational principles.

Link: /a/oip-the-ladder

Link: /a/oip-the-mirror-layer
