Persistent Systems Thesis: A Summary of the Trilogy on Physical Intelligence and Evolution

Persistent Systems Thesis (PST) is a theoretical framework proposing that persistence under thermodynamic constraints connects physical organization, computational regulation, and operational reconfiguration, in any substrate and at any scale. This document summarizes the paper trilogy that constitutes PST, which examines regulated system persistence in physical, computational, and operational dimensions. Paper 1 establishes information-enabled regulation as a thermodynamic necessity for far-from-equilibrium persistence and grounds physical intelligence as a capacity derived from that process. Paper 2 specifies the computational model needed for system operation, in which energy governance allocates resources between viability maintenance and novelty generation. Paper 3 traces evolution through system operational cycle, the morphodynamic cycle, whose repeated execution manifests as natural selection. The summary includes graphical abstracts, a cross-paper concept correspondence, and implications for AI, neuroscience, business, governance, and substrate-agnostic life.