Heather Demarest (University of Colorado, Boulder): 'Resisting the Increase of Entropy'
Title: 'Resisting the Increase of Entropy'
Abstract: Some kinds of things, like zebras, maintain their own level of entropy by increasing the entropy around them. I argue that this ability is reflected in the difference between the kind’s thermodynamic properties, such as its volume and temperature, and the kind’s characteristic properties, such as being herbivorous and having DNA. A kind’s characteristic properties sharply reduce the number of microstates that can possibly realize the kind. Additionally, this reduced set of microstates is not robust—small changes to a microstate are unlikely to yield something of that kind. I suggest that this framework can be used to capture a kind’s degree of complexity, and that it provides a way to explain how so many kinds in our special science laws are able to ‘resist’ the second law’s entropic arrow.
Jowett Society Organising Committee: Ryan Kendall, Charlotte Dorneich, Amit Karmon | Jowett Society Website
