3 ms·

The scond law of thermodynamics says that the total entropy of a system always increases. It doesn't prohibit local entropy decreases. So a part of a system (ne

The scond law of thermodynamics says that the total entropy of a system always increases. It doesn't prohibit local entropy decreases. So a part of a system (newspaper, archive, planet) can maintain or increase its order.

contingencies 11y ago
Anything can happen. However, it will all dissolve to entropy given time. If you find a way to disprove the notion that all is impermanent, you're sitting on a potential goldmine. But ahead lies a terrible choice. If you inform the engineers, they'll potentially write you a fat check, but the world will be run by engineers, and you will be responsible. If you inform the philosophers, Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, physicists or your local psychiatrist, they'll laugh and explain why you're wrong. I suggest talking to the second bunch first, they're nicer people with better food and drink to discuss the matter over, and are more likely to be based in reality than the engineering/theoretical maths set. Personally I sometimes like to step back and view the rise of computing as a terribly mistaken and fallacious dive by humans in to a theoretically perfect world, built at great effort and expense, where the entropy of reality is fought with layers and layers of artifice. In time, it will all crumble. What are we learning out of all this effort? Surely, something that will stay with us. And yet the Eden of earth before modernity is being spoiled while we collectively swipe, at increasingly higher resolutions, speeds and brightness levels, at an ephemeral iconography of collective abstract mental masturbation. (Note to pre-empt negative responses: As stated, this is a line of thinking I enjoy taking sometimes, not a fixed opinion on reality.)
nitrogen 11y ago
Note to sibling commenter, contingencies: your comment is dead for whatever reason, so nobody can reply to it. Might want to check with the HN management to see why.

contingencies 11y ago

Anything can happen. However, it will all dissolve to entropy given time. If you find a way to disprove the notion that all is impermanent, you're sitting on a potential goldmine. But ahead lies a terrible choice. If you inform the engineers, they'll potentially write you a fat check, but the world will be run by engineers, and you will be responsible. If you inform the philosophers, Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, physicists or your local psychiatrist, they'll laugh and explain why you're wrong. I suggest talking to the second bunch first, they're nicer people with better food and drink to discuss the matter over, and are more likely to be based in reality than the engineering/theoretical maths set. Personally I sometimes like to step back and view the rise of computing as a terribly mistaken and fallacious dive by humans in to a theoretically perfect world, built at great effort and expense, where the entropy of reality is fought with layers and layers of artifice. In time, it will all crumble. What are we learning out of all this effort? Surely, something that will stay with us. And yet the Eden of earth before modernity is being spoiled while we collectively swipe, at increasingly higher resolutions, speeds and brightness levels, at an ephemeral iconography of collective abstract mental masturbation. (Note to pre-empt negative responses: As stated, this is a line of thinking I enjoy taking sometimes, not a fixed opinion on reality.)

nitrogen 11y ago

Note to sibling commenter, contingencies: your comment is dead for whatever reason, so nobody can reply to it. Might want to check with the HN management to see why.