Entropy

A measure of disorder and randomness in a system. Every living system consists of orderly and complex structures, as in the intricate tissue of plants and animals. The Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us that, as events take place—as work is done—this order dissipates: the tissues decay. It can be repaired if there is a sufficient supply of the energy of the right kind and in the right concentration. In the case of our planet, that source of energy is almost entirely the sun—both the modern sun (sunlight) and the ancient sun (stored in oil, coal and gas)—supplemented on a minor scale from nuclear energy, and by heat from deep inside the planet itself.^E196

A high level of entropy, or disorder—cold, dark, silent, meaningless—is the default condition (equilibrium) for physics, and it is everywhere, unless something both remarkable and energy-driven happens to prevent it, or to bring order into it. We do not need to be aware of the laws of thermodynamics to know that the consequences of the depletion of fossil fuels will take the form of disorder of many kinds, nor that a political economy that relies on sustained growth is impossible. But the laws of thermodynamics are a convenient summary of the problem, and the idea of entropy—the bleak baseline from which the making of order starts—is central: it stands at the opposite extreme from everything that matters to us.

If the energy to sustain a large political economy is not there, there is something to be said for planning for a small one.^E197

Related entries:

Social Entropy, Touch-Down, Wheel of Life.