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entropy, teleology

Perhaps the best way to understand entropy is to look at it as the tendency of things to arrive at equilibrium.  Many non-living processes head in that direction, but not all.  For an example of an exception, consider the movement of electrons around the nucleus: that movement itself doesn't seem to be heading toward any equilibrium… unless one considers the tendency of atoms to combine into molecules so as to fill the electron shells. 
If reductionism is false, then isn't the fact that organisms continually create disequilibrium at one level, while seeking another equilibrium (for example a full stomach) quite relevant?  
Of course, entropy as a law is about systems, not individuals…. right?

Comments

Anonymous said…
I wouldn't say that the 2nd law of therm. is about equilibrium. It's saying that for a closed system, entropy always (in the very high probability sense) increases. It's not as though it stops increasing after it's equal with something else. In the case of a stomach getting full, it's not a closed system.
10:51 PM
Leo White said…
Thanks, Tim!
Might it be the case that the approach toward equilibrium from a state of non-equilibrium, while not identical with the second law, might at least follow from that law?
Suppose for example , the dis-equilibrium between two boxes (which together constitute a closed system) has gone down so long that it kind of fluctuates between zero and near zero: would entropy continue to increase in this closed system even when equilibrium could not decrease any further? I guess it would if the temperature in the box kept going down... does that sound right?
9:52 PM
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