On Chaos:
On Thermodynamics
On Disorder
On Evolution and Entropy
Michel Barranger explains these concepts for the general student. For students of human systems, this syncretism from the natural sciences is essential. Any human collective which is engaged in a common purpose operates has exchanges of energy. And all social systems demonstrate the tendency to move towards an equilibrium, often accompanied by some level of decadence and degradation. Civilisations have appeared in different parts of the world and over history, flourished and then suddenly vanished. There are some communities who become rulers, dominating the entire civilisation. But over time, they fall apart either due to internal struggles or through an external force. The Mughal Empire after Bahadur Shah I shrank as subsequent rulers could not manage the "system" with the result that with a little force, the Mughal Empire was replaced by the British Empire. Like Michel Baranger explains, from one chaotic volume, the system was modified into a new volume which was initially smooth by the 1940s had become (due to various factors) so chaotic and complex that the Britishers found it worthwhile just to leave - creating a new system.
At a practice level, for the individual and for the organisation, there are implications. In business, markets cannot be defined as sets of static silos based on demographic or psychographic parameters. Markets are complex communities of human beings and there is a constant interaction between order and disorder as communities evolve over time. When one sees markets as such, there is a different paradigm of engagement that is required. And for individuals, one cannot be merely satisfied by knowing "analysis" or believing in the "exact" aspect of the "exact sciences."
Related articles:
An interesting paper on evolution and entropy (second law of thermodynamics presented by Kaila and Annila of the University of Helsinki
Chaos is the Anti-Calculus revolution. Chaos is the rediscovery that calculus does not have infinite power. In its widest possible meaning, chaos is the collection of those mathematical truths that have nothing to do with calculus. And this is why it is distasteful to twentieth century physicists.
On Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics, another name for statistical mechanics, is about disordered energy - understanding the relationship between disordered energy and ordered energy.
On Disorder
When we say entropy is a measure of disorder, the disorder is in our head, in our knowledge of the situation.
On Evolution and Entropy
The spontaneous evolution of an isolated system can never lead to a decrease of its entropy (= disorder). The entropy is always increasing as long as the system evolves. If the system eventually reaches equilibrium and stops evolving, its entropy becomes constant.On Entropy and Knowledge
...our dimensionless entropy, which measures our lack of knowledge is a purely subjective quantity. It has nothing to do with the fundamental laws of particles and their interactions. It has to with the fact that chaos messes up things; that situations that were initially simple and easy to know in detail will become eventually so complicated, thanks to chaos, that we are forced to give trying to know them.
Michel Barranger explains these concepts for the general student. For students of human systems, this syncretism from the natural sciences is essential. Any human collective which is engaged in a common purpose operates has exchanges of energy. And all social systems demonstrate the tendency to move towards an equilibrium, often accompanied by some level of decadence and degradation. Civilisations have appeared in different parts of the world and over history, flourished and then suddenly vanished. There are some communities who become rulers, dominating the entire civilisation. But over time, they fall apart either due to internal struggles or through an external force. The Mughal Empire after Bahadur Shah I shrank as subsequent rulers could not manage the "system" with the result that with a little force, the Mughal Empire was replaced by the British Empire. Like Michel Baranger explains, from one chaotic volume, the system was modified into a new volume which was initially smooth by the 1940s had become (due to various factors) so chaotic and complex that the Britishers found it worthwhile just to leave - creating a new system.
At a practice level, for the individual and for the organisation, there are implications. In business, markets cannot be defined as sets of static silos based on demographic or psychographic parameters. Markets are complex communities of human beings and there is a constant interaction between order and disorder as communities evolve over time. When one sees markets as such, there is a different paradigm of engagement that is required. And for individuals, one cannot be merely satisfied by knowing "analysis" or believing in the "exact" aspect of the "exact sciences."
Related articles:
An interesting paper on evolution and entropy (second law of thermodynamics presented by Kaila and Annila of the University of Helsinki
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