---
title: 'Biogeochemical Cycles as Information-Thermodynamic Computational Systems'
slug: 'biogeochemical-cycles-as-computation'
date: 2026-05-13
type: 'essay'
status: 'published'
tags: ['physics', 'information-theory', 'thermodynamics', 'paper']
abstract: 'Reads the water and carbon cycles as planetary-scale computational systems whose entropy flows bridge quantum mechanics to ecosystem organization; living systems augment entropy production by factors of 1,000–10,000 over abiotic Earth.'
license: 'CC-BY-4.0'
author: 'Jed Anderson'
co_authors: []
canonical_url: 'https://jedanderson.org/essays/biogeochemical-cycles-as-computation'
original_date: 2025-11-23
pdf: '/pdfs/biogeochemical-cycles-as-computation.pdf'
hero_image: '/images/biogeochemical-cycles-as-computation-hero.jpg'
hero_image_alt: 'Cover page of Biogeochemical Cycles as Information-Thermodynamic Computational Systems'
supporting_files: []
---

Reads the water and carbon cycles as planetary-scale computational systems whose entropy flows bridge quantum mechanics to ecosystem organization; living systems augment entropy production by factors of 1,000–10,000 over abiotic Earth.

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