Exploring Quantum Mechanics and Gravity Through Explore-Exploit Thermodynamic Optimisation

We propose that the explore–exploit (EE) trade-off, a concept foundational in cognitivescience, decision theory, and artificial intelligence, is in fact the governing principle under-lying all physical laws. In contrast to conventional views treating EE dynamics as heuristic,we derive them here as a thermodynamic necessity rooted in the Second Law of Thermo-dynamics. We show that systems evolve by optimizing entropy-increasing exploration andenergy-minimizing exploitation, expressed precisely through Kullback–Leibler divergence,Fisher information, and free energy functionals. This thermodynamic EE framework uni-fies quantum mechanics, general relativity, and particle physics under one principle. Thewave-like nature of quantum particles, the curvature of spacetime, and the hierarchy ofparticle masses all emerge as scale-dependent outcomes of this fundamental trade-off. Ourpredictions include the Higgs boson mass (127 GeV), neutrino mass ratios, the exclusionof a fourth fermion generation, quantisation of charge and spin. We suggest that EE dy-namics—once restricted to adaptive agents—are universal, emergent from entropy–energyoptimization and applicable to all physical systems.