Really Useful Engines

Continued from Part 1:

What is Entropy? – Part 1

1. The Grammar of Entropy
2. Algorithmic Information Theories of Life
   1. Life as a Demon: The Cost of Information
   2. The Algorithm of Survival
   3. Coding for Diversity
   4. Life-Forms Must Be Efficient
3. The Mathematics of Efficiency
4. Universal Really Useful Engines
5. Compossibility: The Thermodynamic Case for Diversity
   1. The Ethics of Aliens
   2. Does Time Stop for A Sufficiently Knowing Being?
   3. The Final Cycle
6. Footnotes

The Grammar of Entropy

“**But entropy, heat, past and future are qualities that belong not to the fundamental grammar of the world but to our superficial observation of it. ‘If I observe the microscopic state of things,’ writes Rovelli, ‘then the difference between past and future vanishes … in the elementary grammar of things, there is no distinction between “cause” and “effect””**1

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“you cannot step into the same river, for fresh waters are ever flowing"1

Entropy is a fundamental concept representing change and flow in the universe. It reflects the transformation of usable energy and the complexity of information uncertainty navigated by life-forms.

In a recent article on inequality I incorporated the concept of entropy, so it seemed worthwhile explaining this much misunderstood concept:

This article has been created using a new public AI Notebook:

Climate Change, Ecological Disaster and Civilisational Risks

The Notebook features a range of key scientific and cultural sources. The complexity of these issues and depth of the data lends itself to a publicly available database for people to conduct their own queries. I hope it is useful, particularly for a new generation more interested in solving the problems we face than getting rich whilst watching the world burn.

This AI assisted blog synthesises some of the information contained within a public Google Notebook I created to triage submissions made to the Australian Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy.

I was inspired by a comment of Dr Julia Steinberger (though she did not suggest using AI). I created the AI Notebook to help people (including students, journalists, scientists, policymakers) easily access and query the 227 submissions made to the Select Committee to help review how industry bodies and experts respond to the climate crisis and energy debate.

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. AI Video
3. The Atlas Network: Shaping the World Through a Global Web of Free Market Think Tanks
4. A History Rooted in Free Market Ideals
5. The Stated Goals: Promoting a Free Society
6. Funding the ‘Freedom’ Movement
7. Activities and Strategies for Influence
8. Global Impact and Effectiveness
9. The Driving Ideology: Neoliberalism and its Critiques
10. Controversies and Criticisms
11. Impact On Politicians, Laws & Law Enforcement
12. The Deeper Ideology Driving The Atlas Network
13. A Powerful Force In the World

AI generated image