1Z: '2LT is itself statistical.'
MP: Now this is fascinating! My, rough and ready plain-English, take on
entropy is that for us, whenever we experience it, it is the expansion
of the universe writ small.
How so? Well the essential concept is that the essence of energy is
motion. In fact I like to say that energy IS motion, for all practical
purposes anyway. And potential energy? I here you ask, well that is the
promise of motion.
Equally important are duration and existence.
That which moves, goes where it can [or where it must]. The faster
things move then the more different places they can be in. And that
brings us to the concept of entropy as a measure of the proportion of
free energy within a system that is not available to do work.
And if the universe we live in was not expanding then the free energy
within it would have spread itself throughout by now, indeed it would
have been like that from the start. So it can be seen that we depend on
the next to nothingness of outer space for there to be somewhere for
'surplus' energy in our environment to go to. Our Earth, and
particularly our biosphere is a steady-state system [albeit evolving] in
which some of the relatively consistent supply of energy from the Sun
gets trapped within plants and then it slowly works its way free, by
multitudes of complex pathways through plant growth, or through the
metabolism of the myriad other species who live off the plants, so that
most of it eventually radiates off into space as heat.
Meanwhile, as we do all the things we need to, there is always more can
happen than we want to happen, and usually more that can happen than we
can possibly know about. So the cookie crumbles, the car engine needs a
radiator to take away unusable heat, likewise the computer's CPU, and
everywhere that we cook, work, play and sleep, has to be cleaned up or
the randomising effect of stray energy escaping will make all these
places unusable with dirt and disorder.
' ... in a multiverse, some universes will violate it ... '
MP: But is THAT necessarily so? I don't think anybody really has any
idea what all these alternative universes are, except useful imaginative
constructs that help the mathematics of QM to look good. I mean the way
I see it, if they are at least somewhat of the same as ours then energy
will spread where it will [ ie entropy], and if they are nothing like
our universe we have nothing to say.
I guess my view is a reductionist anthropic enterprise.
Regards
Mark Peaty CDES
mpeaty.domain.name.hidden
http://www.arach.net.au/~mpeaty/
1Z wrote:
>
> On 2 Mar, 12:43, "chris peck" <chris_peck....domain.name.hidden> wrote:
>
>> I have a question for people here who know the issues better than me:
>>
>> I was having an argument about alleged Quantum Immortality/Quantum suicide
>> with some people who argue that because the 2nd law of thermodynamics
>> continues regardless in each universe a 'me' continues within, I should
>> ultimately age away, therefore Quantum immortality is a lost cause in
>> principle.
>>
>> Any counter arguements or agreements with this would be appreciated.
>>
>
> 2LT is itself statistical. In a multiverse, some universes will
> violate it.
>
>
>> chris.
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Received on Sat Mar 03 2007 - 01:40:13 PST