The Thermodynamic Imperative: Evolution as Entropic Resistance through Mergers and Persistence

This paper presents a unified theory of persistence, presenting the argument that evolution should be reframed as an explanation of entropic resistance rather than reproductive fitness. Through theoretical exposition and case studies across the biological spectrum, I demonstrate that persistence emerges from the capacity to merge through complementarity, integrate functionally, and form higher-order, coherent structures whose goal is to avoid annihilation, where the argument shifts from survival of the fittest to the persistence of the coherent. The crucial shift is logically converting “persistence” into “avoiding annihilation”, without which the theory may be difficult to model using the calculus of probability. The evidence presented suggests that mergers are not the exception but the rule. Complexity becomes the mechanism of resilience, and life itself a delay pattern in entropy’s expansion. I propose a probabilistic model to quantify annihilation risk and introduce the concept of "entropic intelligence", which is the system’s ability to manage its internal entropy to prolong persistence at the edge of chaos. Life tends to delay its annihilation in systems far from equilibrium through merger strategies. This reframe offers new predictions for the future of evolution, pointing to hybrid systems, decentralized intelligence, stabilization of species, and civilization-wide feedback structures. I close by proposing that life’s meaning may lie not in overcoming entropy, but in how beautifully it resists.