Entropy – Why the World as We Know It Is Dying
by ilene - March 9th, 2010 3:47 pm
Very interesting article by David Galland, Managing Editor of The Casey Report. He makes an analogy between the thermodynamic law of entropy to the degradation of human social systems due to an entropy-like force acting in the social sphere. What is this force? Might this utopia-killer be us? – Ilene
Entropy – Why the World as We Know It Is Dying
The concept of entropy is one of the most useful terms for understanding just about everything. While it has its origins in natural law – thermodynamics, specifically – the concept holds true pretty much across all closed systems.
In the simplest of terms, every closed system will ultimately degrade toward a state of maximum entropy.
I’ll use the current political system of the U.S. as a convenient example. When American democracy was first shoved out of the nest by the founding fathers, it was new, fresh, and energetic. It took the world’s breath away at its boldness and unlimited promise, and set the wheels turning on tangible change across much of the world.
Before the ink dried on the Constitution, however, the degradation began. From the beginning, the country’s political operations fell into the hands of a strictly limited number of parties, which quickly coalesced into just two. Since then, they have essentially shared power, with only minor differences in policies between the two. Simply, absent a disruptive external force, the closed political system quickly matured into an institutionalized “sameness” that all but assures no serious challenges – leading, ultimately, to the certainty it will degrade to only a shell of its former self.
It was, perhaps, because of his own understanding of natural law that Thomas Jefferson was heard to remark, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
That doesn’t mean I am advocating revolution – just pointing out the fact that any closed system, no matter how well constructed, will degrade. To expect the United States of America to avoid this fate is to expect the impossible.…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the site