we have in science certain idea’s and one of those idea’s
is the three laws of thermodynamics…
the three laws are basically laws of energy…
I don’t care too much about the third law but the first two,
especially the second law is of great concern to me…
the first law states simply that there is X amount of energy in
the universe…that can never increase or decrease…energy moves,
but it doesn’t increase or decrease…
we know this from Einstein when he made matter and energy
interchangeable… they are different forms of the same thing
and so, that matter and energy can change form, from matter to
energy and back again… but the amount of energy/matter doesn’t
change…the overall amount in the universe is the exact same as it
was in the beginning of the universe and will be the exact same at
the end of the universe……
that the second law is simply a comment about energy itself…
that energy spreads out… and that spreading out is entropy…
when energy is collected and used, it is in some form or another…
think of firewood…we have some wood… it has X amount of energy.
it is matter and matter and energy is the same…
so let us burn that firewood… the amount of matter/energy remains the same
after we burn that firewood… we feel the change in terms of heat… that heat is
the same amount of energy as the firewood…there is no difference…
so what about entropy? Entropy is simply the leveling out of that energy…
if we have a glass of hot water and then if nothing else happens, the
temperature of the glass water will slowly go down from hot to warm to room
temperature…that temperature drop is entropy… the dissipation of energy,
is entropy…I am old… just turned 61… old age is the action of entropy…
it is about the amount of energy I use… I cannot lift heavy things like
I used to… that is entropy… I am weaker, not as strong, I cannot run as fast,
nor walk as long as I used to…even thou I still eat food and drink water
and I average around 5000 steps a day, the amount of energy available to me,
is lower then it used to be…
ever buy a box of crackers and ate one and it was stale… that is
entropy… the box was sealed up and nothing impacted on the cracker
from the outside, but it was still stale… that is entropy at work…
I hate cleaning… left to me, our house wouldn’t get clean…
but I have noticed that when we go on vacation, say, 2 weeks,
we might have left the house spotless, no dust, no mess of any kind,
and yet when we return home, the house was a dusty and smelled funny
and it wasn’t as clean as when we left it… that is entropy…the movement
from order to chaos… by the dissipation of energy……it takes energy to keep
a room clean and if we stop putting energy into cleaning a room, it will
get dirty… that action of getting dirty is entropy…to keep a clean room requires
energy…to maintain order requires energy…
my wife and I will go out and happen to see young couples with children…
we have agreed to the fact that we don’t have the energy to contain
children from being chaotic… to keep children in order, requires energy…
that is why we leave the raising of children to the young… they still have the
energy to maintain order…
now any system to maintain itself requires energy… think of your body as
a system… if it is not feed, it will run out of energy and eventually die…
we must have energy in our system to be able to maintain it…
this is true of any system, be it natural, mechanical or biological……
our biological system demands energy to maintain itself… as all biological
systems must have energy to survive…
now the forms of energy might be different between the systems, but
the basic idea is the same…for example, a car is a mechanical system…
it doesn’t run on the same energy basis that a biological system needs…
a car requires gas to have energy… there is no difference between gas for
a car and food for a person or animal… it is the exact same thing…
energy… it might take a different form, but it is still energy…
remember Einstein, that matter and energy is the same thing…
gas as matter and food as matter is the same thing… energy for
a system…
and every thing, every thing is part of a system…
from our bodies to political systems to mechanical systems
such as cars and solar systems as our solar system is a system…
now look up system in the dictionary: a system is a set of rules,
an arrangement of things, or a group of related things that work toward
a common goal… an example of a system are the laws and procedures of
a democratic government… an example of a system is all the organs that work
together for digestion…
so, as we all, every single bit of matter or energy is part of a system,
then the trick is to understand systems as philosophy……
so how is virtue, as an aspect of an system, how does virtue work?
that is a philosophical question… what is the relationship
between virtue and any discussion of systems? how does virtue
work in regards to a political system? or how does virtue work in
regards to an economic system? we cannot take advantage of virtue
in regards to a mechanical system because virtue has no relationship
to any mechanical system such as cars… we cannot connect virtue
to mechanical systems nor can we connect virtue to our solar system…
it simply doesn’t work…
but can we connect virtue to biological systems as the human body?
Kropotkin