Climate Change Factoid - The 2nd Law - Part 3 (#17 of a series)

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Author: Rich Albertson

In a previous Factoid about the 2nd Law (#13) it was mentioned that one of the several parts of the Law states, All of the forces of nature move in one direction and one direction only from the combined to the dispersed or, if you prefer, the composed to the decomposed or, perhaps the complex to the simple. They all mean more or less the same, take your pick. In this Factoid the question is: Does the 2nd Law apply only to biology and physics, the natural sciences or, does it also apply to the social issues presented by the manner in which modern humans organize their affairs?

That earlier Factoid described how the natural world benefited from always directing the forces of nature toward the simplification and maximum dispersal of matter. Through the operation of the 2nd Law, the natural world avoids the accumulation of waste and insures maximum diversity in all things. As diversity increases so does strength and vitality. The opposite of that proposition is also true.

Do you see natural law as being omnipresent, present everywhere, simultaneously and supremely incapable of ever being defeated? The alternative to such a view would be that nature could and did, create a creature more powerful than itself, capable of defeating the very scheme that had created it and the system adopted for the management of all things, for all time. I suppose anything is possible but that one wouldn't make my list.
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It seems much more likely that nature has no actual plan for what type of creatures to create, relying exclusively on chance (chaos) to determine their shape and characteristics. By relying on chance, nature avoids the consequences of the bias inherent in all plans. When a given creature jumps the boundaries of its instincts - the ones it was provided at birth that could keep it in compliance with natural laws - nature has a go away kit ready for them which is actuated by the consequences that develop when the creature breaks the rules.

Climate Change is nature's go away kit for modern humans. The go away kit was activated the moment we destabilized the atmospheric ecosystem. When all is said and done, the primary purpose of the extreme weather response we are experiencing, is to force the offending species (us) on to smaller and smaller land masses, making the resources for our survival progressively more difficult to acquire. Once you destabilize an ecosystem of which you are a member, every response from nature that follows, is not only bad news, but it is worse news than the last thing that happened. A progressively more intense and negative response that grows exponentially in its severity until the nuisance has been eliminated.
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Returning to the original question does the 2nd Law apply to human organizational schemes with the same force and effect as it does to biological and physical issues? Given the foregoing discussion its hard to see how that would not be so. Since the formation of the U S its central government has gradually consolidated decision making power away from those affected by the decisions, to the central government. How well has that worked? From the standpoint of energy efficiency and also the relative quality of centralized vs. localized governance. In Part 4 on the 2nd Law we'll search for some answers to those questions. (Peer reviewed research, supporting the claims made in this Factoid, can be found at the website shown below)About the Author:

Rich Albertson is a retired lawyer, author, builder, building designer, carpenter and long time amateur naturalist. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Albertson's most recent book (2009), The Sky is the Limit A Brief and Easy Explanation of Climate Change for Present and Future Voters (134pp), is an explanation of the science, economics, politics and a discussion of the future of climate change written for people of average experience. Climate Change Factoids are drawn from the book. His first book (1978), The Bio-Conversion of Waste to Resource (4 Vols, 2624pp), was a treatise on methods for the sustainable management of solid and liquid waste in urban society. More about the Sky is the Limit book can be found at http://www.thecircleworks.org

As a Naturalist, Albertson's primary interest is to understand and then explain the conflicts that result from modern human practices that interfere with the operation of the natural world on a planetary scale.

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