These documents examine how biological complexity and identity emerge through the interplay of information theory, thermodynamics, and self-organising constraints. Alicia Juarrero explores how feedback loops and closure create coherent systems where the whole influences its parts, moving beyond simple cause-and-effect models to explain autonomous behavior. Complementing this, Lila Gatlin applies Shannon’s mathematical principles to DNA, arguing that life evolves by optimizing the balance between message variety and error-free reliability. A critical review further situates these theories within broader scientific debates, contrasting teleological explanations of natural purpose with traditional physical materialism. Together, the sources suggest that life’s coherence is driven by context-dependent interdependencies that allow systems to maintain themselves and evolve greater sophistication. Consequently, the authors propose that understanding complex organisms requires a new framework that integrates semantic meaning with the physical laws of entropy.
Sources
• Context Changes Everything: How Constraints Create Coherence by Alicia Juarrero[1][2].     ◦ Link/DOI:doi:10.7551/mitpress/14630.001.0001[1]. • The Self-Organization of Intentional Action by Alicia Juarrero, published in Revue internationale de philosophie[3].     ◦ Link:https://www.cairn-int.info/journal-revue-internationale-de-philosophie-2004-2-page-189.htm[3][6]. • Intentions as Complex Dynamical Attractors by Alicia Juarrero[7].     ◦ Link: No direct link provided in the source excerpts[7]. • Emergence, Complexity, and Self-Organization: Precursors and Prototypes (Exploring Complexity: Volume Four), edited and introduced by Alicia Juarrero and Carl A. Rubino[124].     ◦ Link: No direct link provided in the source excerpts[124]. • Juarrero, Deacon, Nonreductive Physical Materialism, and Chemical Teleology by Libb Thims, published in the Journal of Human Thermodynamics[253].     ◦ Link:HumanThermodynamics.com/Journal.html[253]. • Information Theory and the Living System by Lila L. Gatlin[254][255].     ◦ Link: No direct link provided in the source excerpts[254]. • Dynamics in Action: Intentional Behavior as a Complex System by Alicia Juarrero[811].     ◦ Link: No direct link provided in the source excerpts[811].