"Entropy is a thermodynamic property that is a measure of the energy not available for useful work in a thermodynamic process, such as in energy conversion devices, engines, or machines. Such devices can only be driven by convertible energy, and have a theoretical maximum efficiency when converting energy to work. During this work entropy accumulates in the system, but has to be removed by dissipation in the form of waste heat."
- Wikipedia

Physics dictates that most processes that theoretically transforms energy into work (or vice-versa) will be inefficient, resulting in waste heat that cannot be used and must be dissipated. Even systems that use heat don't transform all of it into useful energy. Assuming that the universe has a set amount of energy (accounting, of course, for the energy that arises from mass itself) in it, that can only mean that at some point, everything will come to rest and the only form of energy left will be heat. If the universe is big enough to keep the energy from coalescing into more mass, then nothing will ever happen again. Creation will be dark and still; entropy will rule.

Thus goes the theory of Heat Death.

One of the interesting things about entropy is its complete inevitability. Every attempt to increase the efficiency of a system is an extension or itself a system that is inefficient. The more complicated a physical system is, the more energy is required just to keep it going. Gathering and utilizing that energy requires ever higher amounts of order, and the cycle continues. Eventually there isn't enough energy and the system grinds to a halt.

Strangely enough, this concept applies to almost all systems imaginable. Economics, information networks, technology, biology, etc. Everything eventually dies. A growing government system will become swollen with administration cost. The population of humans will become too much for a rock circling a star to handle. Pathogens, both real-world and binary, continue to find ways around our defensive measures, becoming more lethal and subtle as they do so. An ever-growing national budget, too high and too fast to ever catch up with, is just energy debt applied to international relations.

And there's nothing to be done about it, really. Nothing stays simple when it has the resources to grow. It's unfortunate that humans in particular are very...inefficient with what we have, from money to raw materials, from energy to space. But you can't blame us for living, yeah?

I don't know what I'm getting at, really. This is something that I've always thought about, and it's a deep part of me. It's part of why I try to live simply, when I can. Keep everything conglomerated, easy-to-organize, low-order. The opposite of a pack-rat: if it isn't useful or somehow special to me, I don't buy it. Don't save it. Don't record it. Don't write it down. Minimize the window. Don't make it. Paper or plastic? I'll use my hands to carry my milk, thank you. It's more than conserving resources. It's conserving...everything.

Save space; don't bury me.

I should write in my will that instead of being buried, I want to be ground up and made into sausages for hungry orphans.

RECYCLING!
» randomjunk on 2011-04-10 12:07:44

So Heisenberg was driving down the road when he gets pulled over by a cops. Cop says, "Do you have any idea how fast you were going?"

Heisenberg says, "No, but I know where I am!"
» Zanzibar on 2011-04-12 03:30:16

Q: What do you get when you cross a jack rabbit and a mountain goat?
A: (jack rabbit)(mountain goat)sin(theta)


Q: What do you get when cross a jack rabbit and a mountain climber?
A: You can't, the mountain climber is a scalar!
» Zanzibar on 2011-04-12 09:34:29

Platonic male internet friend! I do not think it is the same.
» randomjunk on 2011-04-13 10:09:29

Hmm, both at the same time?
» randomjunk on 2011-04-13 07:04:29

Part B... the most ominous part!?
» randomjunk on 2011-04-13 07:07:39

by the way, this entry is awesome.
» Zanzibar on 2011-04-14 09:30:22

It did not work, no, but I could have been doing it wrong... or I could have been doing it right, and it's just bullshit.
» randomjunk on 2011-04-17 12:20:26

Such a shame. XD

Also, new background?
» randomjunk on 2011-04-17 01:16:49

Looks like a t-shirt design. :P What does it say...?
» randomjunk on 2011-04-17 03:07:07

Hahaha, nice.
» randomjunk on 2011-04-17 03:46:59

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