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The Second Law of Thermodynamics of Man (Part 2)
| SERIES: The Second Law of Thermodynamics AUTHOR: Jim Schofield |
STRANDS: PHILOSOPHY / PHYSICS |
ABSTRACT: The Second Law of Thermodynamics is, in one way at least, the banker of all Law. In encapsulates a supposed overall tendency for everything that exists to move inexorably from Order to Chaos, and so is claimed to establish “Times Irreversible Arrow”. Yet it cannot be true! When we contemplate the undoubted development of Reality from the Origin of Life, through its evident and continuing Evolution, we certainly cannot justify such a law’s universality. And we are correct in taking such a position. If we study the trajectory of Mankind’s long struggle to come to grips with Reality, we do find the seed that grew into the Second Law. For that struggle only began to succeed when Mankind attained a position in which it was able to control limited areas of Reality in order to study them and begin to reveal hidden relations which seemed to be crucial to making Reality what it is. But, we were, by doing this, imposing an unavoidable bias on our gains. They were all only possible in rigorously controlled Domains, which if maintained as constant allowed both the extraction of such relations, and their subsequent predictable use. But, every such gain came with a retinue of conditions: these involved it Domain – its contrived and maintained conditions. They allowed the extraction, but limited its use to ONLY within the Domain. Mankind began to control and use his Domains to his advantage, but made the mistake of exporting his laws to Reality in general. All this was based on his basic standpoint of Plurality – the Whole and the Part, which not only made necessary his controlled definition of Domains to study, but was also incorrectly generalised to result in the principle of Reductionism, wherein a continuous hierarchy of Parts could be investigated right down to fundamental units and eternal basic Laws. It was from that false ground that Reality outwith these Domains seemed wholly bent on disorder. From the point of view of Mankind’s ground and his methodology of extraction and use, it was a drive to disorder. But it was of Man’s own making! Mankind produced the Second Law as a counter from Reality to his control and modifications of it for his own ends. |
SYNOPSIS: 1. The superiority of Mankind’s intelligence is explained in terms of a manipulate-able hand, and a consequent rapid development in his brain. He soon learned to control certain things in the World around him. This was clearly his best development path at that time. 2. But all this control and its products were self-evidently short-lived. Without constant attention his “works” would quickly and inevitably revert back to holistic Nature’s stable states.. Even his hunted-for food would fit for nothing by decomposition and decay. 3. Mankind, by his own actions, selected a required Domain in which the Second Law could not be other than entirely true! Indeed, Mankind’s drive to control could have no other effect, yet it was absolutely necessary for what was required for his own survival and development. His actual methodology could do no other than set him at odds with the Natural World. 4. Now, Mankind’s methodology was successful, but NOT in revealing how Reality itself functioned naturally when totally unfettered.. Instead, he learned to construct innumerable Domains conducive to his requirements, all of which required constant maintenance to keep them as he required them. 5. But it meant that Mankind, in order to use his extractions, had to dwell within his constructed Domains. He therefore viewed Reality as it appeared from this ground, and from there it was clearly moving in a contrary direction to what he wanted. 6. Also conceptually, Mankind’s isolated, extracted and abstracted laws were NOT seen as indissolubly linked to their own individually engineered Domains, but were considered to be “elements” within unfettered Reality as is! Reality came to be considered as a summation of these artificially extracted and used laws. It isn’t!. |
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