The Universal Law of Life Systems: Entropy Resistance and the Nature of Living Systems

The absence of a universal, physically grounded definition of life remains a critical shortcoming across biology, astrobiology, and artificial intelligence. While traditional definitions rely on biochemical functions or evolutionary heuristics, none offer a crite- rion applicable across substrates, scales, or domains. This paper proposes a general law: a system is alive if and only if it sustains a positive rate of entropy resistance. Formally, in the quantum regime: Rq (t) =−d/dtTr(ρ(t) ln ρ(t)) >0 where ρ(t) is the system’s density matrix and the trace defines the von Neumann entropy. The law is substrate-independent, operationally measurable, and falsifiable. This formulation offers a unifying condition for terrestrial biology, synthetic organ- isms, coherent quantum systems, and potential extraterrestrial life — without invoking replication, metabolism, or evolution. It reframes life not as a biological artifact but as a thermodynamic process that persistently resists informational and entropic collapse. Life, in this framework, is not explained by physics. It is a distinct phase of physics — defined by its active resistance to the universe’s default trajectory.