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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.arach.net.au/~mpeaty/ 1Z wrote: > > On 2 Mar, 12:43, "chris peck" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
