Information as a core concept for explaining order and evolution

English: Entropy, Thermodynamics and Divergenc...
English: Entropy, Thermodynamics and Divergence, How is it possible to understand Singularity or how the the whole universe is structured under the second law of thermodynamics? Teilhard de Chardin had a vision and many explanations about it, his work is worth of further investigation, (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Working principle of Carnot's heat en...
English: Working principle of Carnot’s heat engine. Français : Principe de fonctionnement du moteur thermique de Carnot. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cesar Hidalgo’s book, “Why information grows” is trying to untangle a very big issue by looking at a very simple problem (at least in appearance). How do small things (cities, economies, groups) get complex when most other things in nature tend to decay over time? A large rock, left by itself, over time cracks, breaks, and washed by rain and blown by winds turns into sand. A small family can over time turn into a dynasty or state. See the House of Habsburg or  Osman. A small city can grow to become a world metropolis. See Singapore. Hidalgo believes that the world of humans, especially economies, are sophisticated information engines “Economies become distributed computers, made of networks of people, and the problem of economic development becomes the problem of making these computers more powerful.” I find the computer simile provoking, yet reductionist. Hidalgo’s proposition hides a much more abstract problem: if the second law of thermodynamics predicts the ultimate demise of the universe in a state of sameness and lukewarm entropy, why is life, natural and social, going in the opposite direction? If the world of humans is the apex of life, our success as a species, which includes the creation of cultural artifacts (in the anthropological sense), is our ability to defy and beat back entropy. But why do living organisms and cultures strive to become increasingly complex and their societies more and more unpredictable and negentropic? The simple answer could be that the universe is a reciprocal engine, in which evolution is the reverse of entropy, and that the second law of thermodynamics goes hand in hand with the law of evolution. The flow of physical world according to the principle “panta rei” to a state of maximum stability and predictability seems to engender and support as a compensatory mechanism the evolution of life and consciousness.  The universe is not just an everflowing river, but a river that was created to power a watermill. The mill of life and culture. The more the river flows, the more complex the mill becomes and the more refined its products. The  universe is run not by one law, that of decay, but by a more complex, two pronged law, that demands a compensatory force to keep the world in balance. As the world becomes more entropic, it generates information as a reciprocal action.  Information and its “complexification” are the “bright side of the force” fighting the “dark side” of entropy. The old idea of a necessary “ying” and “yang” balance becomes more relevant than ever. The only unclear question is “what happens at the end of time”? When entropy would’ve run its course, would the world of life an consciousness come to its ultimate realization as a noosphere, as proposed by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin?

Sorin Adam Matei


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