POWER AND THE DYNAMICS OF BEHAVIOR

Starting with, but considerably going beyond a utility calculus, this article explores the dynamics of human behavior, taken to include over t action as well as thought and perception. On the basis of elementary thermodynamic considerations, it is argued that all such behavior mus t be geared to the production of power, that is, mainly, of resources, and information. The success or efficiency of behavior itself then ap pears to be a function both of the resources invested in it, and of th e system's initial power, the product of its previous behavior and of autonomous environmental occurrences.