Hi Case, I agreed the "parasitic" metaphor was "sloppy", but I still like it, all metahpors are apt to be sloppy in this space.
As well as being an engineer. I'm also a living, breathing parasite ;-) Note you are simply wrong to say "Entropy ... wasted heat or heat ... can not be retrieved or converted into some other form of energy" That is the whole point about negative entropy. Low grade waste energy CAN be upgraded in to more useful stuff, but not by traditional "mechanical engineering". Think of this. Adult 1 builds power station. Power station loses waste heat in cooling water. Adult 2 farms bigger fish in the (warm) cooling water outlet pond. Child 3 eats more fish, grows an intellgent brain. Adult 3 designs and builds better power station. Ad infinitum ... You can do the same story starting with the warmth of the sun ... the original point in here somewhere. It's the biochemistry, life and intelligence that reverses the (otherwise natural) entropy gradient. Or am I missing your point. I joined this thread late, as I said ? Ian On 2/7/07, Case <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ian, and Mark, > > Ian, you are the engineer but I don't think "parasitical" works. Entropy is > increase in disorder, wasted heat or heat that can not be retrieved or > converted into some other form of energy. Life works by transforming energy > mostly the chemical energy stored in food, into to electrical and mechanical > energy as we move about looking for more food. It is this process of energy > transformation that we call life. Entropy is the energy lost to heat with > each transformation. > > As long as there is a readily available supply of food for energy, entropy > is not that big of a factor. The main point is that Pirsig is just wrong > when he says, "Then why does nature reverse this process? What on earth > causes the inorganic compounds to go the other way? It isn't the sun's > energy." > > Case > > > > > > moq_discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
