Dear Steve Guerin,
I was staring at the water swirling down the drain this evening and I thought of you (};-]). It has been a very long time since we have had any kind of conversation on this list about self-organizing systems. I was reflecting on the vigor with which the water was rushing AROUND the basin and the slowness with which it seemed to be actually going DOWN the drain, and a little voice said in my ear . I think it was your voice . that spiral in the drain is organized to increase the dissipation of energy. But then my OWN voice said, well then it isn't doing a very good job of it. So I wanted to ask you: on your account, do dissipative structures ALWAYS increase the rate of dissipation? Or is it the case that when structures form that obstruct dissipation, these are not dissipative. In which case, what are THESE structures called and when do they form. Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ http://www.cusf.org <http://www.cusf.org/>
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