Thoughts on the Second Law of Thermodyamics

Theodore Sturgeon, the famous sci-fi author, said in a 1970 interview that "...ninety percent of SF is crud." This was later termed Sturgeon's Revelation (aka Sturgeons's Law), and slightly modified to the axiom "Ninety percent of everything is crap."

I myself have come to the conclusion after many years of dealing with people in general, and with the insight provided by Sturgeon's Revelation that "Ninety percent of people are stupid." I like to call this Campbell's Corollary to Sturgeon's Revelation. Further to that, I've pondered the implications of the corollary. Are individuals 90% stupid? Are people in general 90% stupid? Are 90% of the population simply stupid people? I tend to think it's all of the above, although, I'm also a believer that individuals themselves can be quite intelligent, but once you get past a critical mass of people they become monumentally stupid. Or to quote Agent K from Men In Black: "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it."

Now how does this relate to the Second Law of Thermodynamics? I'm glad you asked.

The Second Law states: "The entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium." More simply, entropy--or the state of disorder within an enclosed system--increases over time to the maximum amount possible. This is a natural process, and without adding energy to a system to decrease disorder, it is irreversible.

I think there's a certain implication when you take the Second Law of Thermodynamics and Campbell's Corollary to Sturgeon's Revelation together: "The stupidity of an isolated population not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium". That is, unless effort is put into educating and enlightening a population, that population will continue to grow more and more stupid over time, until it becomes too stupid to live. Call it the "Law of Entropic Intelligence" if you will.

I wonder if that's not just another way at looking at how we as a race are dealing with global warming and climate change.

Cheers,

Sean