Eva Durant wrote:
I thought these laws of thermodynamics operate in
a closed system. I don't know about our universe,
but Earth is not a closed system.
It sounds awfully mystical and speculative
("self organization is a property
of energy"??) what you are talking
about and I cannot see the link
into practical proposals.
Thomas:
Well Eva, your question is actually two questions in my opinion. Do the
laws of thermodynamics operate in a closed system? The scientific answer is
yes. In fact science as I understand it states the Universe with all it's
galaxies is a closed system and though you can look at small systems and
define them as open systems, they are nested in greater systems that are
closed.
Second question, "Is self organization a property of energy?" To answer
this, I went to the book, "The Web of Life" to see if I could find a
definitive answer without rereading the whole book or spending half my life
learning a whole bunch of stuff. Let me take a crack at it.
Quote from Page 85
Summarizing those three characteristics of self-organizing systems, we can
say that self-organization is the spontaneous emergence of new structures
and new forms of behavior in open systems far from equilibrium,
characterized by internal feedback loops and described mathematically by non
linear equations. (End of quote)
Now as I understand this, a bunch of atoms tend to self organize which
creates "new structures" and through the reality of these new structures,
"new forms of behavior" start to happen. This happens in "open systems"
that are "far from equilibrium. One of the characteristics of these new
structures is the appearance of "feedback loops" and that this whole process
can be described by non linear equations. The authors contention (and I
haven't finished the book yet) is that this is the definitive description of
living things. In other words, it is not evolutionary in the sense of
selection for survival that creates different life forms and their behavior
as much as it is the tendency for matter to "self organize". This self
organization follows "rules" most of which we probably haven't discovered
yet.
Now, this self organization seems to have some relationship to the concept
of "attractors"
Quote page 136
The qualitative analysis of a dynamic system, then, consists in identifying
the system's attractors and basins of attraction and classifying them in
terms of their topological characteristics. The result is a dynamical
picture of the entire system, called the "phase portrait."
Thomas
This concept "phase portrait" is a geometric method of presenting a visual
answer which shows where the "attractors are.
Quote Page 139
"to discover that strange attractors are exquisite examples of fractals."
Thomas
Fractals were discovered by a guy named Mandlebrot through the discovery of
"fractal geometry" an attempt to describe and analyze the complexity of the
irregular shapes in the world around us.
So to sum up this answer while trying to ignore the asymetrical times of
discovery. It seems that fractal geometry produces forms that are very
similar to what we see in real life, strongly indicating that living things
can be described mathematically which Newtonian physics cannot do. Fractals
have a direct relationship to attractors which can be represented through
another mathematical tool called non linear equations and which seem to
evolve out of the concept of self organization. Going the other way, it
seems one of the properties of chaotic systems is to self organize which
develops attractors which are the same as fractals which represent reality
very closely in living systems.
Therefore to answer your question, "Is self organization a property of
energy?" The answer is yes.
So, what's the big deal? Well, if you are expecting an answer that tells
you how to pay the rent, I don't have it and neither does all these
explanations. However, if we subscribe to the theory that to enhance our
survival, the closer to basic reality our "facts" are, then this relatively
new development proposes a set of ideas that lead to different assumptions
than we get from Newtonian physics and linear equations. If this is true,
then some of our current assumptions such as evolutionary theory, which we
use as a rational for a number of the systems that govern our life, like
economics, may be found to be based on false assumptions, creating the need
for change.
Respectfully,
Thomas Lunde
