DrChinese, you said Shockingly old references this may help.
Entropic Tension Cosmology (ETC) 1.01
Entropic Tension Cosmology (ETC) posits that entropy gradients in spacetime give rise to emergent forces—termed "entropic tensions"—which influence the formation and stabilization of fundamental...
ETC suggests these entropy-driven forces are fundamental in shaping matter at quantum scales, paralleling established concepts such as entropic gravity. ETC does not propose new fundamental physics; rather, it emphasizes entropy gradients as key organizing influences that naturally complement...