Man as Entropic Engine
Are we driving the universe towards its eventual heat-death? Or are we merely passengers along for the ride?
The Entropic Cycle
Entropy is the movement of systems from order to disorder. This includes everything from your ice cream melting into soup, to stars collapsing into black holes. The vanilla soup and black holes are said to have higher entropy. The universe is, at multiple scales simultaneously, breaking down into more chaotic pieces. The function of biological life, in terms of entropy, is to take part in this diffusion of energy. We operate a station at the entropy quarry somewhere between that collapsing star and melting Blue Bell.
Joseph Campbell’s “The Power of Myth” and “The Hero With A Thousand Faces” were both very influential in my life. One of the things they both taught me, is that (most) creation myths are cyclical. According to our mythology, we are obsessed with cycles and loops. This could be for evolutionary reasons, or it could be because we recognize them as core principles in the structure of the universe.
These cyclical creation myths share many interesting narrative throughlines. They describe the universe/world at its inception as being idyllic, highly ordered, devoid of suffering, and governed by laws that are unknown to mankind. As time progresses, man gains more knowledge, and yet his suffering increases, and the world becomes more complex. This continues until the cycle turns over and starts anew.
Symmetry
There is great symmetry between these creation stories and the story of our universe as told by physics, specifically in terms of entropy. This movement from idyllic, to complex and full of suffering, can be described in the same way. Entropy, however, does not define itself as a cycle, merely a vector. Some claim this entropy vector gives rise to time itself, the dimension of our universe we cannot freely traverse. In the words of Sir Arthur Eddington, “Entropy is time's arrow.” I posit that entropy is indeed cyclical, we just haven’t experienced our end yet. I believe these myths provide narrative dressing around this physical law.
The Unification Paradox
What is man’s role in this cycle? Before we examine that question, I want to discuss another facet of man's relationship with entropy. In his absurdist book “The Myth of Sisyphus,” Alfred Camus lays out his definition of the absurd. According to Camus, absurdity arises from a paradox that man is born into. That is: man desires a great unification, a syncing up of the universe, but is incapable of achieving it.
This desire for a holistic understanding, of complete order, sounds a lot like a desire for the beginning of the entropic cycle. Not only are we incapable of this unity, but we are destined to push in the opposite direction. By simply surviving we contribute not to increasing unity, but chaos.
Why does man seek such unification? It is not the most modest of goals, certainly. It could be that the more that we learn and discover, the more hope it gives us that we may be able to escape the fact that we are so cosmically insignificant. Perhaps it’s because we seek comfort in order and harmony, or because unity represents a kind of existential safety net in a chaotic universe.
This paradox, and man’s inability to escape it, is what I believe gives rise to the human condition. One of the most popular ways we as a species have learned to cope with this paradox is to deny its universality. We pursue enlightenment through various means; asceticism, distraction, reason, religion, etc.
Camus argues that the only way to escape (or to solve the human condition) is to deny this desire for unification, and live in active refusal of it, instead embracing the absurd. We are all on a journey to reconcile ourselves to our cosmic assignment.
Agents or Engines?
One of the most popular ways we have found to deny our cosmic destiny is by pursuing reason and the accumulation of knowledge. By striving to understand the laws that govern the universe, we hope to gain control, to master what feels chaotic and incomprehensible. It’s an attractive proposition—if we cannot yet unify the universe, perhaps a deeper understanding will empower us to do so. The results of this pursuit are undeniable: technology, population growth, and ever more sophisticated systems. But it also reveals a paradox—our growing knowledge doesn't simplify the world; it unveils deeper layers of complexity. Where creation myths once painted simple, symbolic pictures of the universe, physics and chemistry expose a reality far more intricate, challenging our very notion of unity. In fact, the further we explore in search of harmony, the more complexity we find.
The universe is constantly expanding, but does its complexity also increase as a result of our actions? When we examine our biological survival, we see this pattern clearly: we consume simple energy forms and convert them into more complex ones, meeting our basic needs, and simultaneously contributing to the universe's increasing entropy. But what about our psychological needs—our quest for meaning, understanding, and purpose? Are we, in our efforts to cope with existence, also fueling entropy? It seems that as we seek to fulfill these deeper needs through learning, creating, and exploring, we introduce even more complexity into the world.
Quantum mechanics is a great source of these discoveries giving rise to yet more complexity. Consider the theory of quantum entanglement, the idea that multiple particles can be spatially separated, but have states that are indistinguishable from one another. This discovery challenged our understanding of classical mechanics and forced us to rethink the fundamental nature of reality. Instead of simplifying things, quantum entanglement has introduced more layers of complexity—exactly the opposite of what our pursuit of knowledge might hope for.
Achieving self-mastery often means learning to delay or deny our most primal biological urges, and perhaps even our emotional responses. But what about our intellectual drive—the desire to understand the universe and uncover its mysteries? Could this also be something we need to learn to resist? This brings us into uncomfortable territory. I’m not suggesting we abandon reason and knowledge, yet it’s worth considering whether this endless pursuit of understanding could be pushing us deeper into the very chaos we hope to escape. Ironically, in seeking mastery over the universe, we may be accelerating the forces that drive it toward disorder.
Many argue that salvation may lie in reason and science, in unraveling the universe's complexities, offering us mastery over chaos. But what if these complexities aren’t merely waiting to be discovered? What if, instead, they emerge precisely because of our relentless pursuit of them? If this is true, then our quest for knowledge isn't uncovering latent complexity, but generating more. We would find ourselves trapped, like in a finger trap—the more we struggle to overcome our limitations, the more firmly we are bound by them, moving further away from the unity we seek.
Perhaps, in the end, the cycle isn’t just one of entropy, but also of our struggle against it—a constant loop of seeking order, only to create more complexity.
But what do I know?
Cheers,
Adam