In this metaphor, diversity is a consumable resource. It is a store of exergy. You can extract work by connecting reservoirs; in the process, the difference is

In this metaphor, diversity is a consumable resource. It is a store of exergy. You can extract work by connecting reservoirs; in the process, the difference is destroyed. And as you note, if isolation between reservoirs is imperfect, then work is actually required to maintain the difference. So then, in this metaphor -- 1. Monoculture is just the end-state: The exergy has been spent; the Markov Chain has mixed. 2. Diversity is celebrated because it still contains potential; the exergy has not yet been spent. Yet paradoxically, the work is released only via the mixing process that destroys it. 3. Unity in diversity is beautiful either (a) for the same reason we prefer youth to old age -- because it contains potential -- or (b) because it demonstrates the existence of energy flows into the system (without which it would not exist). To elaborate on (3b): When diversity is sustainable (rather than just harvested), it is a true (costly) sign of an underlying energy flow, and it is really that underlying flow that is beautiful (i.e., life-giving). Of course, in a larger scheme the flow must itself come from some process of entropy production. For example: We may worship the Sun (and the Void) for pumping through Earth the energy that creates biodiversity, and celebrate that diversity, yet its existence is paid for by the slow death of the Sun (as it equalizes with Void).