[Fis] teleology of entropy

From: Viktoras Didziulis <[email protected]>
Date: Thu 17 Jun 2004 - 22:58:28 CEST

A Calculus of Purpose - an essay by Arthur D. Lander published in PLoS
(Volume 2, Issue 6, June 2004) deals with some aspects of teleology in
sciences with emphasis on complex systems in biology. Here is a link:
 http://www.plosbiology.org/plosonline/?request=get-document&doi=10
1371/journal.pbio.0020164
 
If one tried to describe a purpose of such a (complex) system in terms of
entropy (2nd law), then from the discussions on FIS it would seem that both
statements below can be true at the same time:
1) a purpose of a complex (e.g. organism, ecosystem, etc...) system is to
release entropy
2) a purpose of a complex system is to reduce entropy

Would it be more correct to specify the action place:
1) a purpose of a complex (e.g. organism, ecosystem, etc...) system is to
release entropy in their environment
2) a purpose of a complex system is to reduce entropy internaly

Then having hierarchical levels of systems (..., atom, molecule, ...,cell,
tissue, organ, body,.., star, nebula, galaxy, etc...) in mind it would seem
that entropy is sort of "pushed out" from smaller scales to larger, yet
larger, etc (following a 'scale up' direction). Thus if the Universe is a
closed system all what we call entropy should accumulate within. Otherwise -
it should be pushed yet "somewhere up". Although Closed Universe has yet one
more alternative to "fight" accumulation of entropy by accelerating
expansion. Or vice versa - it is the entropy that forces the Universe to
expand... It lets to draw a speculative conclusion, that an accelerated
emergence of complexity may be a cause of Universe's accelerating expansion.
May it be it so ?..

Some parallels (take it as a joke): Expansion acts like the only possible
cooling mechanism for a closed computing system to prevent overheating of
the main processor :) by increasing computing loads.

Best regards
Viktoras

_______________________________________________
fis mailing list
fis@listas.unizar.es
http://webmail.unizar.es/mailman/listinfo/fis
Received on Thu Jun 17 12:49:34 2004

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Mon 07 Mar 2005 - 10:24:47 CET