Information Capital Hypothesis: The Thermodynamic Economics of Structure Formation from Cosmos to Life

We propose that the universe originated in a state of maximal quantum entanglement where all degrees of freedom exhibited perfect correlation (|ρ| = 1). The transition to classical spacetime was not a singular explosion or implosion but a thermodynamic transaction governed by a conserved quantity we term Informational Capital (IC). This framework posits that IC mediates the conversion or transaction of quantum mutual information I(A:B) into classical spacetime metrics through exchange relations set by constants; speed of light, Planck constant, and gravitational constant (c, ℏ, G). The governing conservation principle, ∮ dIC = 0, generalizes Landauer's principle and Clausius's entropy formulation to information-theoretic transactions. Structure emergence through symmetry breaking generates information value V ∝ -Σᵢ pᵢ log pᵢ by creating distinguishable microstates from an initially symmetric ensemble. The second law of thermodynamics functions as the universe's mechanism for maintaining IC conservation, with entropy production representing the thermodynamic cost of structure maintenance. Economic principles of scarcity, value, and exchange are the manifestations of cosmological conservation laws. The co-evolution of complexity and life, from baryogenesis through biosystems, represents progressive IC investment into fractally accumulating information-processing structures, with life as a mechanism for local entropy reduction through IC transaction optimization.