This is my entry to Scholars & Scribes Dreem - WOTW Contest S2 R5
If you want to join this challenge, please, read this post
Brace yourself, it will be long one.
Entropy_Order_Entropy_Order
Not without exception, there are also the laws of nature, which man, with the use of new knowledge, can use to achieve his goals. Needless to say, these goals are usually selfish or so-called 'common good', which sounds better than simply 'I want more'.
By this standard, human history leads from chaos to order, as evidenced by the theory of evolution. Only progress is ahead of us. The current model applies to science, the economy, medicine, education, economics, culture and so on.
And so, in order to break down the concept of entropy in the easiest way would be first law of thermodynamics, which states that the amount of mass-energy in a closed system (and we take the system between the sun and the Earth as such) does not change.
Everything in the physical world is some form of energy that you cannot simply get rid of or add to. But! It is possible to change its state. And this change of state of energy only goes in one direction, as we are already told by the second law of thermodynamics, according to which energy goes from an ordered, useful form to disordered, - unusable energy.
And finally we come to the point - the measure of the growth of this disordered energy is entropy.
So does history of civilisation actually runs from order to chaos and back again?
The Seed of Decay
From ancient history but also through myths, one can hypothesise that history is in a process of gradual and continuous degradation.@samsmith1971 in challenge write up has mention Greek etymology of word 'Entropy' so I though - it is actually perfect start.
Greeks in their mythology divided history into five stages. It all began with a perfect - golden age. It was a period full of joy, fulfilment, prosperity, a long and healthy life, and perpetual celebration of beauty. Unfortunately, once the 'Pandora's box' was opened, everything began to gradually disintegrate. Each successive period in the history of mankind brought with it more and more worries and problems.
And then we have the Silver Age, the Brass Age, the Heroic Age and, at the very end, the Iron Age.
The Iron Age was synonymous with hardship, toil, sorrow, disease, a short life, struggle between generations and a lack of respect for truth and justice.
The Greeks believed that although the world was created by the deities and is perfect, it has within it a so-called grain of decay. And therefore, every action moves us away from the perfect state created by the gods.
So, where are we now?
Islands of Order and Seas of Chaos
In the book: Entropy: A New World View (mind you, it is old book, and some of authors views can be tad dated and can sound bit controversial and exaggerated), the authors try to disprove the symmetry thesis - 'if was better - then now must be worse', and then the cycle repeats itself.
Through many examples, the authors hypothesise that our current 'ordering' is actually the build-up of chaos. In short, the book argues that the modern industrial world is not a model of progress and order, but on the contrary, by creating so-called islands of order it leaves a sea of chaos all around, because we are governed by the law of entropy.
The authors give examples from almost all aspects of life, I will get you but a few.
Mechanised agriculture causes not only depletion and erosion of the soil, but deep soil contamination. In addition, the transport of food over great distances results in the need to add preservatives in ever-increasing doses. Thus, despite the abundance of food, its quality is so poor that we have to supplement our diet.
Energy produces what is known as net energy, the value of which is the difference between the useful energy produced for transmission to consumers and the energy consumed in the production of usable energy. And further, the value of net energy decreases with each new fuel used in the history of mankind. It tends to be more difficult to access and much more expensive to obtain and as well as to process. On top of that, there are the costs of transporting energy over long distances, all to ensure the continued operation of an economy that cannot afford downtime these days. So the value of energy is decreasing significantly.
Taking this a step further, we have industry. By producing certain goods from this energy, we are causing it to be lost at virtually every stage - from extracting the energy, then converting it into certain goods, then using it, then repairing it, and finally recycling the goods or even disposing of them at waste dumps. And, unfortunately, we already know very well today that landfilling and securing rubbish consumes further amounts of energy.
Even in a field such as education, we are expanding the seas of entropy. By forcing the memorisation of more and more information in very rigid and artificial forms of education, we are creating more and more information chaos. The media are adding to this. The effects can be seen in children - information overload, stress and psychosomatic illnesses are the everyday reality for many families.
Paradoxically, each generation performs worse and worse academically, having enormous problems with logical and associative thinking. Imaging to pick once identity and building a new character
in all this noise. What a nightmare.
Medicine is also a good example here: despite ever-increasing squandering budgets, it is failing to cope with illnesses. Spending on health care is increasing, treatment technologies are becoming more and more advanced, and diseases are not declining.
Old diseases have been joined by diseases of civilisation. Treatment of symptoms results in so-called chronic diseases. The number of iatrogenic diseases, (diseases caused by medical treatment itself), is increasing as well. I don't even want to get into the subject that we are an overmedicalized society and that medicines themselves have such a wide range of side-effects that many of us seriously consider our other options when reading the leaflets.
So were we are at?
Pressed up against the wall, I guess. Or news want us believe so. Apparently the human ego has swollen to such monstrous proportions that it will be difficult to get back on track.
But what do you think? Do you still see the ways out or perhaps we should let nature take over like in the song 'Ænema' by Tool
(…)
Some say the end is near
Some say we'll see Armageddon soon
I certainly hope we will
I sure could use a vacation from this
(...)
The only way to fix it is to flush it all away
(...)
Learn to swim, learn to swim
Are we on the verge of disaster or someone want us to believe so?
Maybe it is possible that the philosophy of the our new era can be smaller energy flows? Accepting that small is beautiful. That we need less centralisation. That the regions need more autonomy. Promotion of rural settlements. Living closer to nature. Healthy, home growing food. Renewable energy, but local ones.
Meditation, quieting the mind, conscious self-restraint.
Sounds like utopia, isn't it?
Have a lovely Tuesday dear Hivians!
Yours,
Strega Azure
| When enough is not enough |
|---|
| Should I keep studying |
| The laws of thermodynamics, Khan Academy |
| Tool, album Ænima, lyrics of song 'Ænema' |
| Book - Entropy: A New World View by Jeremy Rifkin, Ted Howard |
| Book 'Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life' by Jordan B. Peterson |
Edit: I shot new pictures this morning with day light, and you can see a little bit more colour:)
Which one you prefer?
I used watercolour pencils and 200 mgm black paper.
Lovely art piece and some interesting thoughts about our current situation and civilisation. I would concur that the egos of many people are swollen beyond belief causing beliefs in many delusions and participation in many bizarre rituals. I wouldnt say that Entropy is the build up of chaos in our society though, although maybe it is a contribution, but more because of the leading social political philosophy of our civilisation for at least the last few hundred years (Hegalian Dialetic) is.
Thank you for visiting my blog @mypathtofire. I know that this post could came across a little bit bitter as well, but I would say, that recognise the problem is a first step:)
I would like to emphasise that - I don't think that people are 'cancer of the earth' as I noticed is quite common narrative nowadays. I don't support that at all. But I do think we should be more considerate with our actions, that's for sure:)
To be fair, I don't really think that way either. I was just exploring little bit more theory of Jeremy Rifkin(leading author of Entropy: A New World View), which is a still only this - a theory. Luckily I would say:)
The rewards earned on this comment will go directly to the people ( strega.azure ) sharing the post on LeoThreads,LikeTu,dBuzz.https://leofinance.io/threads/strega.azure/re-leothreads-36xnxks1p
Nice work, both the art and the writing. An insightful critique on the pursuit of progress, urging us to reconsider our values and embrace sustainable alternatives. We really are a point where we can plunge ahead without considerable thought of the consequences.
The problem with this is that 'forward' means something completely different to everyone.
I think this is why people are so far apart in their goals. If we could at least look in one direction, that would be a good start, isn't it?Thank you @shadowspub very much for stepping by!
Oh, very nice use of the blues and greens! Well done!
Thank you @bluefinstudios, it means a lot!
The drawing is amazing.
Thermodynamics is an interesting topic and entropy is the most favorite part of thermodynamics. And I liked the way of your presentation..
Thank you @intishar very much, I am glad you like my work:)
I really liked the prompt 'Entropy' because there were many possible paths to take there. I've had difficult time to decide where to take this article, to be honest:)
As always, you make being brilliant just look so damned easy. Absolutely stunning work my friend :)
Always nice to see you around:)
Thank you for all kind words!
Beautiful drawings as usual and a really good essay on entropy! I'm glad i can drop more challenging words in from time to time for writers to get their teeth into 🙂 I am just getting around to comments now... things were hectic for a bit !LOLZ I think order may return to the examples you highlighted (like medicine etc) if we start holding more people accountable for their actions! !LUV
(5/10) sent LUV. | connect | community | HiveWiki | NFT | <>< daily@strega.azure, @samsmith1971
! help(no space) to get help on Hive. Infololztoken.com
He told me to stop going to those places.
Credit: benthomaswwd
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PLAY & EARN $DOOM
@strega.azure, I sent you anThank you for your visit! I really loved the prompt.
100%. Problem is with prosecuting stuff like this, those are individual cases, and usually complicated one.
Really appreciate you have found time to get into comments, I don't know how you keep up! ❤️
I'm reworking my time and commitments as we speak... hehe... I'm sorry my comments are coming so late after the challenge. I upvoted ages ago but with everything going on at the time I didn't get a chance to comment on all the posts yet...so playing catch up! I started with yours! !LOLZ !LUV
I am happy with comments regardless when they come. Your words are always insightful:)
You are in impossible position to try divide your time between so many things. Let me me knew if I can help in any way!
Thank you for your visit!
As you will know by now, I popped into your DM hehe... Maybe one day !LOLZ !LUV
lolztoken.com
When it gets bad I have to take something for it.
Credit: reddit
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ENTER @WIN.HIVE'S DAILY DRAW AND WIN HIVE!@strega.azure, I sent you an
I will give it a think! ❤️
(1/10) sent LUV. | connect | community | HiveWiki | NFT | <>< daily@strega.azure, @samsmith1971
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They each got six months.
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ENTER @WIN.HIVE'S DAILY DRAW AND WIN HIVE!@strega.azure, I sent you an
Pandora Box, Greek mythology, it all crazy and they help you think in ways you never thought you would.
The iron age speaks a lot about humanity. We are facing it, aren't we?
I adore mythology, not only Greek one. Find it very much related to everyday life.
Oh yeah, we do. The age of industry but the age of war as well.
That's super cool cos I do too. I find them fascinating.
Yes, the age of war.
Unfortunately.
Such an informative blog you have here.
I'm all in to this
"Promotion of rural settlements. Living closer to nature. Healthy, home growing food. Renewable energy, but local ones."
And thus explains my current lifestyle. As people became career-oriented and centralization is so hailed, too much waste; brain cells, energy and literally; we need rurality and countryside living!
Made my way here through #dreemport. #dreemerforlife
Thank you for visiting my blog @jellyvine:)
We do. I am all about and pro -development, but sustainable one. Only so much and actually - so so much!
Yay! 🤗
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