Under these conditions, the entropy drops because the new string dominates the system. After a time, the new string produces mutated offspring with similar or lesser growth factors. This change of state can be considered the equivalent of a sand pile s avalanche and a result of self organized criticality. Entropy does not always return to its original value. Cold spots are parts of the string that, when mutated, do not increase the growth factor.
Hot spots are parts of the string that, when mutated, do increase the growth factor.
This information is stored in cold spots for the string. Since there is more information than in previous, less effective genes, the number of hot spots is reduced. The taxa example can be expected if there is no time scale governing the length of time a species dominates a population and the number of subfamilies is proportional to the length of time a certain species dominates. In addition, the taxa example is found to have fractal dimensions. In general, if the distribution of waiting times between events follows a power law, the system is in a self-organized critical state.