6 ms·

There's a general consensus that entropy is deeply spooky. It pops up in physics in black holes and the heat death of the universe. The physicist Erwin Schrod

by retrac 2y ago

There's a general consensus that entropy is deeply spooky. It pops up in physics in black holes and the heat death of the universe. The physicist Erwin Schrodinger suggested that life itself consumes negative entropy, and others have proposed other definitions of life that are entropic. Some definitions of intelligence also centre on entropy. What to make of all that however, has anything but consensus.

Y_Y 2y ago
[flagged]
- retrac 2y ago
  I was trying to convey a subjective and emotional experience. Obviously I failed. I hope that when you try to express awe it isn't dismissed as weasel words. I give up. Delete my account please dang. This site isn't good for my mental health.
  - Y_Y 2y ago
    I didn't like your comment, that's all. I'm just one anonymous asshole, I can't invalidate your sense of awe. FWIW, I didn't want or expect to harm your mental health.
    - AdieuToLogic 2y ago
      >> This is all weasel words, and you've misspelled "Schroedinger"/"Schrödinger". That sort of comment might be fine for the pub, but on the internet you don't have to say anything and if you do it may as well have some substance. > ... I can't invalidate your sense of awe. Actually, yes. Yes, you can. And so could I, or anyone really, given sufficiently focused vitriol. For example, your sentence fragment "This is all weasel words" is incorrect English. "This is" should use the plural form "These are" as the subject is "words" and not "weasel", as well as the modifier "all" emphasizing plurality. The irony of your subsequently pointing out a spelling error and then chastising the OP for same has not been lost.
      - WalterBright 2y ago
        At least 50% of posts that point out a spelling or grammatical error contain one as well.
        AdieuToLogic 2y ago
        > At least 50% of posts that point out a spelling or grammatical error contain one as well. Quite true. While I do not generally claim to be a grammatical wizard, I do know when I hear from one (hello Zortech-C++, it's been too long!). If you don't mind pointing out my mistake(s) above, I would appreciate it as my goal was to exemplify the social effect of pedantic critique. Being corrected when doing same could serve as an additional benefit.
        WalterBright 2y ago
        It's nice to hear from a ZTC++ user!
        Y_Y 2y ago
        What's the unconditional rate of errors in posts generally? Without the prior I don't know if whinginging about spelling or grammar makes my posts correcter or incorrecter.
      - Y_Y 2y ago
        > "This [comment] is all weasel words." The subject was "this", referring to the comment. By what standard of English did you reckon my post incorrect? I appreciate your effort to cheer up your parent post, and to improve my language skills, of course. (I'm not the language usage police, though I am fussy about correctly rendering people's names.) I didn't understand your gainsaying about invalidating awe. Whether or not the poster's awe was a real and worthwhile feeling seems to me entirely independent of my opinions. I find your aims admirable. However, I regret to say that for me the irony, and purpose of this comment thread, have indeed been lost.
        AdieuToLogic 2y ago
  - AdieuToLogic 2y ago
    > I give up. Delete my account please dang. This site isn't good for my mental health. While I cannot speak to your conclusion, I can humbly suggest to not put any credence in what some rando says on the Internet. Including myself. :-) Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.[0] 0 - https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/theodore_roosevelt_103499 https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/theodore_roosevelt_103499
  - CamperBob2 2y ago
    You wouldn't toss out your radio because it picks up a bit of static now and then, would you? That's all that posts like that one amount to... static.
  - jakeogh 2y ago
    Your comment is excellent, inspiring and quite true. Please stay, otherwise the rest of us are stuck with the alternative (which essentially someone saying "read this wikipedia and Schrödinger original talks", with a perplexing pile of unhappyness, pretending to correct things that you didnt get wrong)
    - Y_Y 2y ago
      Inspiring and true I could leave if you like
- endofreach 2y ago
  > but on the internet you don't have to say anything and if you do it may as well have some substance Seems like we're using different internets. Which i am glad about. I just wish mine had less of the negativity that's coming over from yours. Guess in the end, the people on your internet realize, it's more fun over here. You could have expressed all of that with less maliciousness towards the person. Thank god, in my internet everyone can say whatever they want f they want. Because– and more people should remember this apparently– if i don't like it, i just turn off the internet, like grandma! Wish all the best to you and everyone you care about in real life. I might be just a bot. You might be. We'll never know for certain. Don't let some bits mess with your feels.
  - Y_Y 2y ago
    I'm sorry for for leaking negativity into your internet. I don't think negativity is inherently undesirable, but I don't think it's useful to express it towards people's selves. I meant only to criticize the comment without further implication. In fact I went and got some references I really liked because I was hoping to add what I felt was missing from the discussion on entropy. My motivation in the end was to share my personal feeling of awe, and in a way that was accessible to the parent poster as well as other readers. How do you like that internet?
    - jancsika 2y ago
      > My motivation in the end was to share my personal feeling of awe, and in a way that was accessible to the parent poster as well as other readers. Then write it that way: 1. Remove the first paragraph, where you treat the OP like a child by telling them where it is and isn't appropriate to express their idea 2. Remove the first two sentences of the 2nd paragraph 3. Remove the clause "but you can't get that from a quip." Now we've got the beginnings of a delicious comment! You could even garnish it at the beginning with something like "Not sure if we're talking about the same thing, but..." But you don't even really need it. That's the difference between playing in a sandbox with others, and unwittingly kicking someone out of one.
pstuart 2y ago
I liked the awe you shared -- it made me want to learn more about entropy.
vintermann 2y ago
To have entropy, you need to have a notion of information. To have information, you have to decide which differences matter, I.e. which states you classify as the same. This isn't a problem for physics, or for computer science. But it is a problem for would-be philosophers (including a few physicists and computer scientists!) who thought information was a shortcut to avoid answering big questions about what matters, what we care about.

by retrac 2y ago

Y_Y 2y ago

[flagged]

retrac 2y ago
I was trying to convey a subjective and emotional experience. Obviously I failed. I hope that when you try to express awe it isn't dismissed as weasel words. I give up. Delete my account please dang. This site isn't good for my mental health.
- Y_Y 2y ago
  I didn't like your comment, that's all. I'm just one anonymous asshole, I can't invalidate your sense of awe. FWIW, I didn't want or expect to harm your mental health.
  - AdieuToLogic 2y ago
    >> This is all weasel words, and you've misspelled "Schroedinger"/"Schrödinger". That sort of comment might be fine for the pub, but on the internet you don't have to say anything and if you do it may as well have some substance. > ... I can't invalidate your sense of awe. Actually, yes. Yes, you can. And so could I, or anyone really, given sufficiently focused vitriol. For example, your sentence fragment "This is all weasel words" is incorrect English. "This is" should use the plural form "These are" as the subject is "words" and not "weasel", as well as the modifier "all" emphasizing plurality. The irony of your subsequently pointing out a spelling error and then chastising the OP for same has not been lost.
    - WalterBright 2y ago
      At least 50% of posts that point out a spelling or grammatical error contain one as well.
      - AdieuToLogic 2y ago
        > At least 50% of posts that point out a spelling or grammatical error contain one as well. Quite true. While I do not generally claim to be a grammatical wizard, I do know when I hear from one (hello Zortech-C++, it's been too long!). If you don't mind pointing out my mistake(s) above, I would appreciate it as my goal was to exemplify the social effect of pedantic critique. Being corrected when doing same could serve as an additional benefit.
        WalterBright 2y ago
        It's nice to hear from a ZTC++ user!
      - Y_Y 2y ago
        What's the unconditional rate of errors in posts generally? Without the prior I don't know if whinginging about spelling or grammar makes my posts correcter or incorrecter.
    - Y_Y 2y ago
      > "This [comment] is all weasel words." The subject was "this", referring to the comment. By what standard of English did you reckon my post incorrect? I appreciate your effort to cheer up your parent post, and to improve my language skills, of course. (I'm not the language usage police, though I am fussy about correctly rendering people's names.) I didn't understand your gainsaying about invalidating awe. Whether or not the poster's awe was a real and worthwhile feeling seems to me entirely independent of my opinions. I find your aims admirable. However, I regret to say that for me the irony, and purpose of this comment thread, have indeed been lost.
      - AdieuToLogic 2y ago
- AdieuToLogic 2y ago
  > I give up. Delete my account please dang. This site isn't good for my mental health. While I cannot speak to your conclusion, I can humbly suggest to not put any credence in what some rando says on the Internet. Including myself. :-) Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.[0] 0 - https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/theodore_roosevelt_103499 https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/theodore_roosevelt_103499
- CamperBob2 2y ago
  You wouldn't toss out your radio because it picks up a bit of static now and then, would you? That's all that posts like that one amount to... static.
- jakeogh 2y ago
  Your comment is excellent, inspiring and quite true. Please stay, otherwise the rest of us are stuck with the alternative (which essentially someone saying "read this wikipedia and Schrödinger original talks", with a perplexing pile of unhappyness, pretending to correct things that you didnt get wrong)
  - Y_Y 2y ago
    Inspiring and true I could leave if you like
endofreach 2y ago
> but on the internet you don't have to say anything and if you do it may as well have some substance Seems like we're using different internets. Which i am glad about. I just wish mine had less of the negativity that's coming over from yours. Guess in the end, the people on your internet realize, it's more fun over here. You could have expressed all of that with less maliciousness towards the person. Thank god, in my internet everyone can say whatever they want f they want. Because– and more people should remember this apparently– if i don't like it, i just turn off the internet, like grandma! Wish all the best to you and everyone you care about in real life. I might be just a bot. You might be. We'll never know for certain. Don't let some bits mess with your feels.
- Y_Y 2y ago
  I'm sorry for for leaking negativity into your internet. I don't think negativity is inherently undesirable, but I don't think it's useful to express it towards people's selves. I meant only to criticize the comment without further implication. In fact I went and got some references I really liked because I was hoping to add what I felt was missing from the discussion on entropy. My motivation in the end was to share my personal feeling of awe, and in a way that was accessible to the parent poster as well as other readers. How do you like that internet?
  - jancsika 2y ago
    > My motivation in the end was to share my personal feeling of awe, and in a way that was accessible to the parent poster as well as other readers. Then write it that way: 1. Remove the first paragraph, where you treat the OP like a child by telling them where it is and isn't appropriate to express their idea 2. Remove the first two sentences of the 2nd paragraph 3. Remove the clause "but you can't get that from a quip." Now we've got the beginnings of a delicious comment! You could even garnish it at the beginning with something like "Not sure if we're talking about the same thing, but..." But you don't even really need it. That's the difference between playing in a sandbox with others, and unwittingly kicking someone out of one.

pstuart 2y ago

I liked the awe you shared -- it made me want to learn more about entropy.

vintermann 2y ago

To have entropy, you need to have a notion of information. To have information, you have to decide which differences matter, I.e. which states you classify as the same. This isn't a problem for physics, or for computer science. But it is a problem for would-be philosophers (including a few physicists and computer scientists!) who thought information was a shortcut to avoid answering big questions about what matters, what we care about.