Speaker: Charles A. S. Hall and Timothy McWhirter
Subject: Energy and Evolution: The Systems Approach
Time: 15 Jul 2026 13:30 Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Summary:
This talk summarizes a book project that seeks to provide a systemic reconstruction of H.T. Odum’s foundational framework that integrates the various optimality principles that have emerged from the thermodynamic school of evolutionary theory in a way that, unlike other systems approaches, is based on the precise energetic driver of evolutionary fitness—the output of useful power.
Biography:
Charles A.S. Hall (Ph.D. in Systems Ecology under H. T. Odum at UNC, 1970) was professor at Cornell U, U Montana, and SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry. He is best known for his development of the concept of energy return on investment (EROI) and a new field, BioPhysical Economics.
Timothy McWhirter received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Florida State University. He is the first philosopher to publish a paper describing the relation between Odum’s maximum power principle and Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the will to power (2012).
Resources:
If you are interested in this topic, the prior presentation from James Thornton “Why is there Life?” might also be of interest. You can find details at CACOR Live | James Thornton | Why is there Life? – Canadian Association for the Club of Rome
Papers discussed in this talk:
TIME’S SPEED REGULATOR: THE OPTIMUM EFFICIENCY FOR MAXIMUM POWER OUTPUT IN PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
Author(s): HOWARD T. ODUM and RICHARD C. PINKERTON
Source: American Scientist, Vol. 43, No. 2 (APRIL 1955), pp. 331-343
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