Entropy growth and information gain in operating organized systems

In the framework of thermodynamics of irreversible processes, patterns of macroscopic evolution of operating organized systems from various fields (engineering, biology, cosmology) are coupled to the increase in their entropy. An extension of Boltzmann’s equation is proposed to characterize the entropy evolution. It is shown that such a “top-down” approach allows us to merge empirical data in a single inclusive model. A method is proposed to quantitatively assess the minimum semantic information gained during the life of the systems. This allows us to compare systems with different types of organization and lifespans. An example of calculation is given for the universe. The method also offers a challenging view to “bottom-up” approaches in progress.