The Consumption Frequency of Thermodynamic Capacity: Entropic Time — Complexity, the Peak Condition, and an Observational Test at z = 0

A complexity function is constructed from three quantities: the entropy production rate of the observable universe, a functional information term, and the ratio of remaining thermodynamic capacity to maximum entropy. Differentiation yields a peak condition containing a previously unidentified critical ratio: the entropy production rate divided by the entropy gap (f = σ/ΔS), termed here the consumption frequency of thermodynamic capacity. The peak condition predicts that complexity reaches its maximum when the fractional decline rate of entropy production equals the fractional growth rate of information. Computing the left-hand side from the Madau-Dickinson star formation rate density yields d/dt[ln σ] = −1.851 × 10⁻¹⁰ yr⁻¹. The holographic information growth rate (2H₀) matches this to within 25%. The construction, the ratio, the computed number, and the match are novel; the individual ingredients are not, and their owners are cited. This document establishes dated priority for: the complexity function C(t) = σ(t) × I(t) × ΔS(t)/S_max; the peak condition d/dt[ln σ] + d/dt[ln I] = σ/ΔS; the identification and naming of σ/ΔS as the consumption frequency; the computed observational value −1.851 × 10⁻¹⁰ yr⁻¹; the two-peak structure of cosmological complexity; and the holographic-bound match. Draft — not peer-reviewed.