Life vs. Entropy

This conversation with TBocce got me thinking for weeks about entropy ...

[06:36] TBocce Player (tbocce): Rome wasn't built in a day I suppose...

[06:37] CF: no but it can be destroyed in a day --

[06:38] TBocce Player (tbocce): yes...Man had developed weapons of mass destruction, and if you agree with GBS that is what Man does

[06:39] CF: creativity is swimming up the strong current of entropy

[06:39] CF: 10's of millions of years to figure out a spear tip ...

[06:40] TBocce Player (tbocce): apparently we offer more incentives  to make war than we do to keep peace

[06:43] CF: no i think destruction is just inherently easier

[06:44] TBocce Player (tbocce): because of the resources spent on finding the technology to do it quicker and more effectively are greater

[06:49] CF: i think u would rather discuss politics than physics

[06:50] TBocce Player (tbocce): I try to talk about what I know; and I know  little about science. I am open to learning

[06:51] CF: ok

[06:51] CF: "entropy"

[06:51] CF: suppose u make a film of an egg dropping on the floor

[06:51] CF: u can tell if it is run fwd or backward

[06:51] TBocce Player (tbocce): OK

[06:52] TBocce Player (tbocce): OK

[06:52] CF: because the mess doesn't just form itself into an egg

[06:52] CF: law of thermodynamics states that entropy -- randomness -- constantly increases

[06:52] TBocce Player (tbocce): OK

[06:52] CF: things get messier

[06:52] CF: so making "order" is swimming upstream

[06:52] CF: that takes energy

[06:52] CF: ok so far?

[06:53] TBocce Player (tbocce): OK

[06:53] CF: so imagine the bomb dropping on Hiroshima

[06:53] CF: huge pile of junk made in a second

[06:53] CF: fantastic complexity of 20,000 lives and all they built gone in a flash

[06:53] TBocce Player (tbocce): agreed

[06:53] CF: that's entropy

[06:54] TBocce Player (tbocce): or evil

[06:54] CF: easy to destroy

[06:54] CF: maybe

[06:54] CF: life generally swims up-stream

[06:54] CF: so if evil is anti-life, then u r right

[06:56] CF: it is a much broader view though

[06:56] CF: it applies to bugs destroying a forest when no human morality is present

[06:56] TBocce Player (tbocce): Man may be basically bad...but I don't feel that Man should give into every evil impulse, but instead should swim upstream for the betterment of Man

[06:56] CF: or an asteroid destroying all animals larger than a mouse

[06:57] CF: that kind of thing happens all the time in the universe -- man's version is just a special case

[06:58] CF: that's physics not politics

[06:58] TBocce Player (tbocce): Is not Man the only being who has freedom of choice?

[06:59] CF: "choice" is the ultimate in up-stream, energy sucking activity

[06:59] CF: entropy is randomness -- no choice

[07:00] TBocce Player (tbocce): by not making a choice you make a choice...it's Man's burden

[07:00] CF: not making a choice is to allow things to go on as they would ... which is the direction of entropy

[07:00] CF: pollution, loss of energy, ...

[07:00] CF: a big mess

[07:01] TBocce Player (tbocce): Indeed

[07:01] CF: so that's the connection

[07:01] CF: it's a huge question and politics is just a way to blab about it withoiut understanding the basic issue

[07:02] TBocce Player (tbocce): politics is about power...and acting without understanding prompted by things such as greed

[07:03] CF: power increases entropy by reducing choice for the masses

[07:03] CF: entropy is the enemy

[07:03] CF: the enemy of life in general

[07:04] CF: destruction of thousands of species wipes out millions of years of the fight against randomness

[07:04] CF: lack of power can do the same

[07:04] CF: India is turning into a huge garbage dump

[07:04] CF: many routes to the same result ...

[07:05] CF: i discovered this when i was 5

[07:05] CF: u keep mixing paint to get interesting colors

[07:05] CF: eventually u get shit color

[07:05] CF: i found this profoundly disappointing

[07:05] CF: applied also to play dough

[07:05] TBocce Player (tbocce): we still are here to be stewards of the earth

[07:06] CF: no

[07:06] CF: sorry

[07:06] CF: we are part of it, not the bosses of it

[07:06] CF: if we try to take it over by being "stewards" we turn it all to human ends

[07:06] CF: huge increase in entropy

[07:07] CF: what we don't want or need dies

[07:07] CF: Humans understood this for most of our history

[07:07] CF: but it is already forgotten in Genesis

[07:07] TBocce Player (tbocce): you are more certain about reality than I am

[07:08] CF: powers of nature are vastly more than we can match

[07:08] CF: global warming, pollution, mass extinction will happen no matter what we do

[07:09] TBocce Player (tbocce): no question...but I am speaking in terms of the social order...we must act for the greater good, or we will die

[07:09] CF: we are just shitting in our own beds

[07:09] CF: but the "greater social good" is to reduce the population to perhaps 1 million

[07:09] CF: this will not happen

[07:09] CF: we are like bugs, powerless

[07:10] CF: of course the population reduciton will still happen ...

[07:10] CF: then the politicians will have an easier job :)))

[07:11] CF: perhaps they will be able to persuade the remainder of humainty that it was all God's will :)

[07:12] CF: want to see the outfit? Huge effort for one guy's fantasies :)

[07:12] TBocce Player (tbocce): another man's fantasy?

[07:12] CF: young guy who is very smart but also playful ...

[07:12] CF: i like "playful"

[07:13] TBocce Player (tbocce): phone