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Re: Ecological Economics and Entropy
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Subject: Re: Ecological Economics and Entropy
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From: jmc@Steam.stanford.edu (John McCarthy)
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Date: 05 Nov 1996 21:19:20 GMT
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Article: 15676 of alt.sustainable.agriculture
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In-reply-to: Jay Hanson's message of Tue, 05 Nov 1996 09:01:47 -1000
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Newsgroups: talk.environment, sci.environment, sci.energy, sci.econ, sci.agriculture, alt.sustainable.agriculture
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Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
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References: <542t7d$iep@rainbow.rmii.com> <32665F05.112@ilhawaii.net> <54daqh$msl@thrush.sover.net> <326AD33B.2375@cris.com> <mcaldon-2010962323350001@la-dial2-09.wavenet.com> <326caa79.347097428@nntp.st.usm.edu> <mcaldon-2110961451160001@la-dial2-05.wavenet.com> <01bbbfa0$4917f500$89d0d6cc@masher> <54je4g$cja@newsy.ifm.liu.se> <558bmk$d9u@hpcvsnz.cv.hp.com> <55bupq$qmt@news.inforamp.net> <327A1D06.2B54@ilhawaii.net> <55dfco$7fk_001@pm3-134.hal-pc.org> <4Xf+YMAdqzeyEw20@dweinstein.demon.co.uk> <327c8189.2528341@nntp.st.usm.edu> <327CE5DB.3B8C@ilhawaii.net> <327e2637.175783802@nntp.st.usm.edu> <327F8F1B.7207@ilhawaii.net>
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Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
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Xref: newz.oit.unc.edu talk.environment:75309 sci.environment:110249 sci.energy:56970 sci.econ:59617 sci.agriculture:15312 alt.sustainable.agriculture:15676
Jay Hanson includes:
The world doesn't come with dotted lines Harold. <G> We draw
them! For example, the entropy of a dinner plate system
increases when the dinner plate breaks.
You may draw a line around the dinner plate system if you like, and
its entropy indeed increases when the plate breaks. However, the
dinner plate system is not closed, so its entropy goes down again when
someone glues the plate back together or replaces the plate by
another. When the plate breaks the entropy of the universe increases
but by an amount that is trivial even on a time scale of billions of
years.
Nuclear and solar energy each provide means of reducing the entropy of earth
scale systems for billions of years.
I need to go back to my previous .sig, "He who refuses to do
arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/
During the last years of the Second Millenium, the Earthmen complained
a lot.
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