There is a side of our personality which impels us to dwell on beauty and other aesthetic significances in Nature and in the work of man, so that our environment means to us much that is not warranted by anything found in the scientific inventory of its structure. An overwhelming feeling tells us that this is right and indispensable to the purpose of our existence. But is it rational ? How can reason regard it otherwise than as a perverse misrepresentation of what is after all only a collection of atoms, aether-waves and the like, going about their business? If the physicist as advocate for reason takes this line, just whisper to him the word Entropy.
From The Nature of the Physical World by Sir Arthur Eddington
Entropy is a measure of the disorder or randomness in a closed system, like our universe for example. Why in the world link a fundamental characteristic of our universe like entropy and beauty? I read Einstein, Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Eddington on occasion not because I know much about theoretical physics because I know almost nothing; however, when the level of genius is high enough and one digs arduously enough one can find highly original ideas that apply to the world in general by reading what real geniuses have written. Schrödinger’s musing about how nature might go about resisting entropy led to Watson and Crick’s double helix for example.
Sir Arthur Eddington states that entropy is time’s arrow, which points from moments ago, less entropy, to now, more entropy. Entropy can only be found, however, by association, the relationship between the particulars; one atom has no entropy because there can be no disorder, whereas ten would because ten can become associated in a more disorderly fashion. He compares this to an impressionistic painting where the individual points are meaningless unless associated as a whole. The same analogy can be made with beauty and melody; all arise from associations. Thus, perceptions of a beautiful melody can be considered rational in the same way entropy is considered rational. What a wonderful point this is!
Blog No. 83, Just Whisper Entropy
There is a side of our personality which impels us to dwell on beauty and other aesthetic significances in Nature and in the work of man, so that our environment means to us much that is not warranted by anything found in the scientific inventory of its structure. An overwhelming feeling tells us that this is right and indispensable to the purpose of our existence. But is it rational ? How can reason regard it otherwise than as a perverse misrepresentation of what is after all only a collection of atoms, aether-waves and the like, going about their business? If the physicist as advocate for reason takes this line, just whisper to him the word Entropy.
From The Nature of the Physical World by Sir Arthur Eddington
Entropy is a measure of the disorder or randomness in a closed system, like our universe for example. Why in the world link a fundamental characteristic of our universe like entropy and beauty? I read Einstein, Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Eddington on occasion not because I know much about theoretical physics because I know almost nothing; however, when the level of genius is high enough and one digs arduously enough one can find highly original ideas that apply to the world in general by reading what real geniuses have written. Schrödinger’s musing about how nature might go about resisting entropy led to Watson and Crick’s double helix for example.
Sir Arthur Eddington states that entropy is time’s arrow, which points from moments ago, less entropy, to now, more entropy. Entropy can only be found, however, by association, the relationship between the particulars; one atom has no entropy because there can be no disorder, whereas ten would because ten can become associated in a more disorderly fashion. He compares this to an impressionistic painting where the individual points are meaningless unless associated as a whole. The same analogy can be made with beauty and melody; all arise from associations. Thus, perceptions of a beautiful melody can be considered rational in the same way entropy is considered rational. What a wonderful point this is!