The Biggest Story

Entropy and Life

Entropy is the measure of disorderliness, in oddly simple terms. In a closed system, entropy never decreases. Have you ever seen a wind breeze blowing in a beach and moving the sand in such a way that it makes a sandcastle? It is because a sandcastle is a more ordered configuration of the sand particles then sand dunes, and the universe will not allow it. This is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Each and every particle in this universe is gradually slipping into the decline of its order. Even time respects this law, and that is why you can never travel back in time, you can just have a relative experience of time. Time as the fourth dimension of our universe conserves the Second Law of Thermodynamics by never retracing back it’s path.

But amid this constant progression of the universe towards the disarray, nature allows small pools of temporary order which is why we see the beautiful spiral galaxies and luminescent stars. Which repeatedly forms, eliminates and forms again like the Ying and Yang, order and chaos constantly chasing one another. These temporary sets of order are not violating the Law as it is always formed at the expense of energy. The very act of writing this blog is an ordering of the alphabets decreasing the entropy but at the expense of energy.

When we look at life itself, the vibrance and diversity of it makes it hard to believe what a small spec of order it is. From manufacturing all the essential elements in the core of a star, slight tilt of the earth that allows seasons to pass, to the abiogenesis itself, is just a small order swirling in the large play of chaos. Let me just throw you an example – for hydrogen to convert to helium it releases precisely 0.007% of its mass as energy, increase the number to 0.008% - and bonding would be so wildly prolific that the hydrogen would long since have been exhausted, lower the number to 0.006% and there would be no fusion, no periodic table, not even the 61 elements forming a stately clump you consider your body. If you just pause in your mind and expand your gaze on all the chain of individual fortunate and misfortunate events that has taken place for you as a being to happen. The fact that you are here, reading this is far more miraculous than anything you could have ever imagine to be written in the stars.

Information

mrsaysgeoeand eoana nmnr o neeknestdaRm t. It does not make any sense because the letters are randomized. Things make sense when they are organized in a particular order. It z tru tht it cn b cmprsd frthr but still it is in some arrangement that it makes sense. This is called information entropy and was coined by Claude Shannon while working in bell labs. Also, it is conversely true that using information you can bring order, if you have all the information about how particles interact, you can explain any phenomenon in the universe with absolute predictability, even a coin toss. (well there are a few truly random events). But even information does not violate the second law of thermodynamics – It is very acutely explained in a thought experiment called Maxwell’s Demon.

Music is nothing but an order of the seven notes. Every living thing is a result of a slightly different arrangement of the four bases that constitutes a DNA. In this sense you are a distant cousin to a banana, you share 50% of your DNA with it. Neurons work the same way in your brain, as in a capybara. You are more defined by your genetics then you think. The MINNESOTA Twin study showed that identical (closest genetic relative possible) twins when reared apart and bought up is different families in different areas, showed bizarre similarities like naming their daughter / dog, similar political interest, choice of vacation to choice of profession. Each of your cell is a living thing on its own and can even be grown in a petri dish. So, what is so special about you?

Things that we feel and know are just biochemical reactions and electrical synapses in our brain. Whatever you find meaning in, is just a comparison of the information you have. When we see a car, our brain registers that image and compares it what we know of a car from previous experiences. Information is predetermined and not random. A more daring question in this sense would be what is reality?

Nihilism

The most sagacious surgery of this question was performed by Friedrich Nietzsche. His approach is rather simple – start by any random thought in your head and ask yourself Why? And whatever you come up with, ask yourself again, why? This ‘Why’ is the most destructive of all, if you ever sincerely come to think of it, you will find yourself that you cannot even convince yourself. It often puts thinkers into a state of meaninglessness and despair, an eventual existential crisis.

“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.”

The biggest truth that is out there is of Death. No one and nothing can escape, everyone and everything has to die. Whatever you do, in the end it does not even matter. Even if you build monuments and make a name yourself, it still won’t stand the storm of time and you will not be there to see it even if it does. This temporal nature of everything is mentioned in Bhagavadh Geetha as maaya.

Consciousness

Although all the above-mentioned statements are hard solid truth, it does not make it easier to digest the fact that everything is and eventually be nothing. Our existence, for a slither of time in eternity of the universe inside a small sphere of mud and water spiraling an end of an average galaxy (out of so many) feels too insignificant to comprehend. But it does not necessarily mean that it is a problem. Your life is the only thing you get to experience, if you feel humiliated - it won’t last, if you make a mistake, it won’t last and that’s - liberating! If everything is meaningless then you get to dictate what your purpose is. You can transform your existential dread to optimistic nihilism, with a grain of salt. Before you cease to exist, you get to experience and explore the world around you, count the stars, read a book and enjoy the company of a loved one. You get to decide with whatever resources you have, how to enjoy the ride.

What’s special about you is that you are here, in this small planet, in this particular moment of time as a sentient, conscious being to think about your existence. You are not just a clump of cells but the experiencer of ‘self’ itself. Your cells may be replaced, you might lose an organ but you will still be you. As biology have dissected life in principles of physics and chemistry, consciousness can be dissected in a sense of ’the self’ and ’the world’. What we experience as the world is a multi-sensory, panoramic immersive inner movie, we might as well be in a simulation like in Matrix.

But the world has lot to do with what’s inside. The same kind neurons that are in a cat is generating a sense of consciousness that is you all the time. And the brain is like a prediction engine. Your sense of perception is from your past experiences and the input you get, and it is a guesswork. When your perceptions get too overwhelming over your stimuli, as in the case of consumption of a Psychedelic - you hallucinate. We can say hallucination is uncontrolled perception. But then perception is controlled hallucination, in fact we are hallucinating all the time, it is just that when we all agree to it, it is called - reality. And in this reality, in the very act of asking the question - ‘Why?’ - you are seeking reasons for your convictions, you are committed to reason as the tool to justify what is important to you, and the possibilities are as infinite as your imagination. The biggest story is what we live in, spun by time, which we know as self.

Cogito, ergo sum.

Reference

1. Forces of Nature - Brain Cox
2. A short history of nearly everything – Bill Bryson
3. https://hackernoon.com/rick-and-morty-and-the-meaning-of-life-6640df17e263
4. The Better Angels of Our Nature - Steven Pinker