372. A world of
entropy?
Could we see the world as one big buzz, on may
levels, of loops going around between high and low entropy? Let me try this
out, in a list of phenomena of humanity and society. Here I distinguish between
the two dimensions of entropy: the number of possible states or alternatives,
and diversity, the distinctions between them.
alternatives diversity entropy
life many high low many forms, each unique
death many low high undifferentiated mass
monopoly few low low few but homogeneous products
competition many low high many
of similar products
innovation few high low unique
product
nationalism many high low many
different unique nations
authoritarian few low low no or
a single party
democracy many high low different
political parties
capitalism many/low high/low low
uniqueness in entrepreneurial and
monopoly in concentrated capitalism
communism few low high one
size fits all
integration few low low many
similar things brought into one
disintegration many low high falling
apart in autonomous units
dense network many high many connections between many nodes
high centrality net. few high a few nodes have many connections
war/revolutionn many high high breakdown of order into factions
peace few low high preservation
of order
the face (Levinas) few high low the unique other
justice few low high equality
under the law for many
destruction many low high loss
of order
excitement few high low peak
boredom many low high no
clear preference, nothing salient
poetry few high low irregular
meaning
bureaucracy few low high equalization
art few high low unique,
diversity of interpretation
spectacle many low high shared
entertainment
The assignment depends on the relative weight
one puts on the two dimensions of number of alternatives and the distinction
between them. In some cases the assignment of values is uncertain. Is boredom
due to having too may alternatives or too few of them?
I was inclined to look positively on low
entropy, since that is a sign of life, but if my assignment in the table is
right, some less attractive things also are assigned low entropy: monopoly,
authoritarionism and nationalism.
But instead of assigning approbation to high
or to low entropy, the point probably is that most phenomena are combinations
of them, alternating in time, cycling between one and the other as in life and
death, and between stability and change, in interaction between objects and
their environments, as shown in the previous item in this blog.
Perhaps war is needed to appreciate peace,
autoritarianism to appreciate democracy, monopoly to appreciate competition,
order to appreciate disorder, and vice versa.
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