[Fis] Thermodynamics and Information

Dear all,

It is amazing to realize how many new and interestings aspects you have pointed out in just one week, the time I was unable to send my posting.Difficult to decide how to start, maybe thermodynamics and information to end up with resources again. The link between resource investment and generation of information in support to evolution is very strict. Without resources (both directly environmental and human-controlled ones) no information is produced, be it the DNA in a seed, be it a new book or a smart PhD student. Information is not generated out of a context.it takes thousands hectares of forest (i.e. fertile soil, sun, microorganisms for a long time) to make the evolutionary pattern leading to a new species possible, to test and select it, to make copies and spread them until the use and new resources are able to generate new information again. Supporting the information cycle at ecosystem and human society levels requires an unbelievable amount of resources: organisms and societies, which are able to attract and use these resources more effectively, develop and displace competitors. When we talk about the value of immaterial sides of sustainability we cannot avoid also talking about effective use of resources. Both sides (information and resources) go together and cannot be separated. Seeds, money, DNA, books, software, religions, cities, database, have no hope to last, reproduce, or even survive against the law of entropy, if resource flows are not provided every day to counter their degradation. The problem is not which side is more important.the problem is recognizing that there is only one coin with two sides. Assigning the "right" value to resources is of paramount importance for the survival of the whole body (society, university, forest) but the right value is exactly that which allows the whole body's survival. Recognizing this is a step ahead towards a sustainable society.

Thermodynamics alone cannot do the whole job: Joan Martinez-Alier very often underlined that "thermodynamic analyses cannot be the only bases for policy, nor will they lead to a new theory of economic value. They can, instead, do something that is much more important. In addition to providing a biophysical basis for economic descriptions, they may help to expand the scope of economics, away from a single numeraire or standard of evaluation toward systems thinking and a multi-criteria framework." For this to be done, it must be accepted that solutions of different problems may require different methodologies to deal with properly. Each approach may only answer a given set of questions and may require the support of other methodologies for a more complete view of system behaviour. The correct use and integration of complementary approaches might ease descriptions and enhance understanding of complex systems dynamics, including human economies.

Increased efficiency and shifting to renewables may be part of the solution, shared responsibility and stakeholder commitments is no doubt another important part. We need to make sure that government (and scientists) understand that time is short, resource are not unlimited and that growth without resources is impossible. In times of available resources, using them up quickly (no matter the efficiency) was a good policy to be competitive. This is why the capitalism established so well. If human societies are regulated by the same principles as other ecosystems and species on Earth, then it would not be a good policy "to paddle countercurrent", trying to force societies to grow when resources are scarce. In times of declining resources, i.e. our times (as many of you are also concerned), efficiency (recycling, good use, planning) is a much better policy to face the "new scarcity". The information generated and stored may reveal itself the most important resource available to deal with the new tasks. "Policies based on understanding could be the difference between a soft landing and a crash.Make no mistake, this is not a proposal for less growth. It is recognition that general systems principles of energy, matter, and information are operating to force society into a different stage in a long-range cycle." (Odum and Odum, The Prosperous Way Down, 2002).

I do not think this is "putting the tool on the altar", but instead recognizing the strict link existing between different aspects of the same process, including thermodynamics. No single discipline can provide social guidance, not can ethics, religion or economics. The task for sustainable societal development is so difficult and so complex that it requires the convergence of several actors and narratives. I agree with Pavel that "our society is on the "oil drug" or "mineral drug". No evolutionary developed mechanisms of mass decision taking, such as markets, or moral institutions, can help us to avoid it...but our social mind has started to realize that death is coming". Can the descent ahead be avoided? "For six billion people deeply indoctrinated in the ethics of growth - Odum wrote - a turndown and descent of civilization is unthinkable. That this descent could be prosperous is so inconceivable that it is unmentionable.. Showing a good way down is a call for everyone to think ahead and plan." Is there anything that can be done on this side?

I am not as optimistic as Loet about resources. It is not true that we have "plenty of paper". We use more paper than in the past (we print everything we find on the internet), but this paper requires energy to be produced from trees. Trees are produced by means of intensive plantation wood production, which increases erosion and ultimately affects the available fertile soil, in addition to competition for food. The material basis of economies is increasing, not decreasing, despite the claims for de-materialization. The shifting to new resources hides the fact that these new resources have a huge ecological rucksack (matter processed directly and indirectly to provide the resource), the load of which is left to undeveloped countries, we do not even see it. Just think of the rare earths used for high technologies...1 gram of lanthanium for fuel cell technologies requires an unbelievable amount of rock to be excavated and huge pollution generated. The biggest western mine for rare earths (Mountain Pass Mine, California, www.molycorp.com; http://www.endangeredearth.org/alerts/result.asp?index=1275) was forced out of business due to environmental concerns, so that only China still extracts rare earths (due to less enforced environmental protection laws) in large amounts. In the long run, all hidden problems come out and the reliance of our economies on a very fragile basis becomes evident. If material flow accounting, energy accounting and emergy accounting methods are used to estimate the natural capital actually available at a sustainable rate, we realize that the resource basis of our economies is shrinking, not expanding, and may react accordingly. Thinking that we can decouple resource and development is against the evidence of increased materialization and increased pollution.

Cheers to all.

Sergio

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Sergio Ulgiati
Energy and Environment Research Unit
Department of Chemistry
University of Siena
Via Aldo Moro
53100 Siena (Italy)

Phone: +39-0577-234232
Fax: +39-0577-234254
E-mail: ulgiati@unisi.it
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Received on Wed Nov 26 10:30:20 2003