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That's a reasonable approximation in this context. What happens when complex systems emerge is that they reduce entropy locally at the expense of increasing entropy much more elsewhere (outside those systems). This is why the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics talks about entropy never decreasing in closed systems; but it can decrease in open systems, where there is an external source of low entropy providing a gradient down which the system can export its entropy.
You could also think of it in terms of energy - when energy is evenly distributed, entropy is high. When energy is unevenly distributed in 'clumps' (e.g. like stars) entropy is lower. Systems can generate complexity and order by dissipating the available energy.
The best analogy I can think of is the flow of water when a dam is opened. The initial rush of water is far too energetic for order or structured complexity, but as the turbulence reduces and the flow becomes smoother, you can start to find eddies and vortices - relatively complex, ordered structures that persist for some time. While they tend to be carried along in the general flow, their rotation means that some parts of the eddy structure are moving counter to the main flow, the equivalent of a local reduction of entropy, at the expense of a greater reduction in the overall energy of the water flow than would otherwise occur; i.e. vortices and eddies are dissipative structures. When the flow reduces below a threshold velocity, the vortices and eddies will themselves dissipate, and when the flow stops altogether, all disturbances will die away.
Life, planets, stars, and galaxies are complex, relatively ordered, dissipative structures. The stars and galaxies formed as concentrations of low entropy/high energy in the early universe, and now they're 'unwinding', distributing their energy and acting as sources of low entropy for secondary and tertiary systems, such as living things, to generate their own complexity and order from. Complex systems self-assemble as dissipative structures when suitable materials are available and in suitable energy/entropy gradients.
What, thermodynamics? or do you mean what happens to living things, i.e. aging, senescence, & death?
Entropy is an explanatory concept of statistical mechanics - it explains why there is an arrow of time even though the underlying fundamental physical particle interactions are time-symmetric and 100% reversible. It's an emergent effect of probability at work.
That's not really a coherent question; entropy is a descriptive property of collections of particles, of stuff. Entropy increases simply because there are many more ways for a system to be disordered than ordered, so if it starts out with some level of order, any random change is likely to make it less ordered.
Sure; the idea was to contrast a familiar poetic description when backed by the solid mathematics of statistical mechanics, with the same words as usually backed by supernatural handwaving
I like his view on funerals, "Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours..."Lawrence Peter. Yogi is just a nickname.
...sounds good...
What do you make, then, of the empirical verification of various elements of that "well-written poetry," of successful practical applications?You do understand that all you have said are mere descriptive words for what the coiners of such...don't know?
Someone said to me yesterday that "Magic is unknown science". In other words, couldn't you just call all of your well written poetry ..."Abra cadabra"?
What do you make, then, of the empirical verification of various elements of that "well-written poetry," of successful practical applications?
Yes, there's nothing like a good story, but the practical applications are what really matter.Like I said...words are powerful.
*Especially with the power of faith behind them.
**Molds of perception...
Yes, there's nothing like a good story, but the practical applications are what really matter.
Science and technology are about what works. Ontology is left to the stories we tell. For example, you might find it gratifying to believe that Ptolemy was right and the Earth is at the center of the Solar System, but you will still use Kepler's equations because they give accurate results and are much easier to solve."Your tongue is one of the most important parts of your body. It's small, but you depend on it to speak, sing, taste, and eat.
At the same time, your tongue is also one of the most dangerous parts about you (see James 3:5-6). In Proverbs 18:21, Solomon went as far as to say that "death and life are in the power of the tongue"
The Power of Your Tongue
Think about His Words and what they hath wrought...and then think about science and technology.
Science and technology are about what works. Ontology is left to the stories we tell. For example, you might find it gratifying to believe that Ptolemy was right and the Earth is at the center of the Solar System, but you will still use Kepler's equations because they give accurate results and are much easier to solve.
I'm not sure I would go so far as to say rational. Apparently some sort of order prevails, but to call it rational implies that it is fully knowable. All we can do with our reason is attempt to model it.Believing you are a conscious being living in an objective and rational world works. But, science does not explain this does it.
I'm not sure I would go so far as to say rational. Apparently some sort of order prevails, but to call it rational implies that it is fully knowable. All we can do with our reason is attempt to model it.
OK. What's your point?The fact that we have the ability to use our imaginations to perceive and name and categorize things and then craft a mold of perception for others to conform to and then build more complexity that works, speaks of our Creator given ability to create.
OK. What's your point?
Never mind, then. I thought you were on about the Bible, rather than the existence of God.Sorry, my poetry does not contain the technical jargon of others here, but my point is that just because something works doesn't mean it's true or right or necessary, etc...
*What He created was "very good"...but, man has sought his own devices...
Dark energy and dark matter is an attempt to explain events and cannot be observed or even detected.
There is observational evidence for both dark energy and dark (i.e. non-baryonic) matter, although scientists don't know yet what these things are. That doesn't mean that dark energy are unobservable and undetectable in principle.
Your view is rather limited.
There is observational evidence for both dark energy and dark (i.e. non-baryonic) matter, although scientists don't know yet what these things are. That doesn't mean that dark energy are unobservable and undetectable in principle.
God frequently works through people.Ah, I thought dark matter and energy was just nonsense
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