Re: entropy and uncertainty, REDUX

Posted by Russ Abbott on Aug 05, 2010; 4:04am
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/entropy-and-uncertainty-REDUX-tp5375070p5375233.html

Nick, Good to hear from you. Nice description of entropy in animal behavior!

I agree with pretty much everything you say. I'm concerned about this sentence, though.

When entropy is low … i.e., when there is a particularly steep gradient in some part of the universe, Nature contrives a means for reducing that entropy and that means, paradoxically is to INCREASE entropy in some localized portion of the universe in order to more efficiently decrease it over all. 

By a particularly steep gradient, I assume you mean any sharp change of some property. The gradient is in some property--not any particular property, and especially not necessarily in entropy.

I'm guessing you meant to say that Nature contrives a means for increasing that entropy.  (You did say it started out low. I agree with that. Smoothing out the gradient would increase the entropy.)

That would increase entropy locally and globally.

-- Russ

On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 7:04 PM, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

energy

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