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The Astonishing Power of Disequilibrium
A Tiny Bit Less Cold
The Astonishing Power of Disequilibrium
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Andy Fletcher, scientist and lecturer, said this:
“The universe arrived courtesy of big bang in the highest state of order, i.e. of thermodynamic equilibrium, that it would ever be in. The background temperature and density was perfect to one part in 100,000.”
But!
“That tiny imperfection, that tiny nudge of disorder, was the bit that expanded eventually into to the universe and ultimately to you and me being here. In the places where the temperature was a bit colder (by one part in 100,000), matter collected, matter that eventually clumped into gas clouds, which clumped into stars, which clumped into galaxies.”
Think about that. All you need is one part in100,000, one nanoscopic scoop of disequilibrium in the form of imperceptible cold, and voilà! Life. Without that bit, matter and antimatter would have swallowed each other up; and the “world” would have returned to nothing, waiting it out, again, for another big bang to “come along.”
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But there it was. Anomaly.
I love that we started that way. I love that our most, most, most ancient ancestor is an entity of difference. I love that life arose from a break from balance, a pinning of perfection, a snubbing of sameness. And I would argue that it is that feature of our nature that defines our intelligence. Not our brains, our intelligence. Our best thinking. Our shining of light Into murk, especially when murk is being peddled as light.
We could do with more stray bits of disequilibrium at the moment, I feel. Sameness seems to be smothering our senses, our probes, our courage even to search for the torch. Oh, you may say, please no, we have enough chaos. Ah, but chaos destroys equilibrium; it does not enhance it. I would argue, in fact, that disequilibrium is the answer to chaos. I would say, let us restore equilibrium sweet step by sweet step and then ask the disturbing questions, just enough to produce matter and get on with life.
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​Andy Fletcher: https://www.quora.com/Is-the-Universe-random-or-designed, http://www.lifeuniverseverything.org/
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Listen
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I had begun Neil Theise’s, Notes On Complexity 1. Everything was fine. Then I read this: “Robins on our building’s front lawn tilt their heads, listening for herds of earthworms passing through the ground beneath them.”
Robins. Listening for worms. Herds of them.
Really?
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I’ve watched a lot of robins scuttle, pause, tilt their heads, poke their beaks madly into the lawn, and very occasionally come up with a worm. I’ve assumed they were making wild guesses about where the worm would be. I’ve assumed that they were being patient or maybe determined, or were just programmed for a low success/failure ratio, and in order to survive had to be persistent, relying on luck and indefatigability.
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It never occurred to me they were listening.
Listening for worms.
I can’t get over it. Maybe you already knew this. Maybe you are wondering where I have been all these years. How does a reasonably intelligent, fairly well-read, science-loving person miss a key fact of nature like that?
Beats me. But honestly, it’s exciting. Don’t you think?
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1 Theise, Neil, Notes on Complexity, Spiegel and Grau, NY, 2023, p. 23
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