Entropy and Interconnectedness

Over the last 2 decades, having observed, sometimes too closely, humans  - systems – and the interaction between them. I have been very intrigued by the singular and homogenous behaviour patterns of people. Of people as singular entities and people as a homogenous group in a system, community – team.   Read ‘group’.

Something strange happens, when you meet people as individuals, their thoughts, feelings, expressions, convictions are different than, when they are  in a group… my initial, almost primitive conclusion was  - acceptance by a group – being liked and respected etc. and while all this might be true…and obviously recognisable by the “subjects” – it still continues to happen. Even when it is not desired or intended.

In my quest to find another way to look at this – the whys -the whats - the hows...

I stumbled upon the role of “Entropy” in thermodynamics – the study of matter – heat and energy. Very safely one can apply ALL these words  in context of humans and human behaviour.

Some of the interesting definitions of the word “Entropy”  are:

- A measure of the disorder or randomness in a closed system.

- A measure of the loss of information in a transmitted message.

-The tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.

- Inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society.

The Last definition is what got me hooked.....

And in my quest to “finding in translation” – I began to see a pattern

And what inarguably works for thermodynamics ..must also works for living systems and people.  – At least that is a hypothesis.

So, if

The second law of thermodynamics asserts the irreversibility of natural processes, and the tendency of natural processes to lead towards spatial homogeneity (uniform composition of space – read “Uniformity – equality – fairness ” in the way nature works). Toward  thermodynamic equilibrium.

It is important at this point to understand what  “Equilibrium” means  - It means a state of balance. In a state of thermodynamic equilibrium, there are no net flows of energy and no unbalanced potentials (or driving forces), within the system. A system that is in thermodynamic equilibrium experiences no changes when it is isolated from its surroundings… there is no such thing as “alone” or independent. (hence  - no need for “acceptance” by the ‘other’ – it is an Intrinsic connectedness as a FACT)

It can be formulated in a variety of interesting and important ways.

When two initially isolated systems in separate but nearby regions of space, each in thermodynamic equilibrium in itself but not necessarily with each other, are then allowed to interact, they will eventually reach a mutual thermodynamic equilibrium.

AND

The sum of the entropies of the initially isolated systems is less than or equal to the total entropy of the final combination. Equality occurs just when the two original systems have all their respective intensive variables equal; then the final system also has the same values.

What this means in simple language is - when two or more  entities, people (group), are in complete “equilibrium” in and by themselves, when they come together – interact – they will eventually reach  mutual equilibrium.

And in this state of “Mutual Balance” - The inevitable - “Entropies”, the degree of disorder in the team, will be equal to or less than the sum of their individual entropies…

The opposite of this is also true. When the “individuals” have not reached an inner equilibrium – the entropies will be amplified – leaving the “System” inundated.

Well this answered many of my questions about systems not functioning to their potential…and what needs to be done. All natural processes are irreversible. Reversible processes are a convenient theoretical fiction and do not occur in nature. J

So much to learn from Nature.

Do we need a case for the relationship between -  “Inner work” - growth - Interdependence – Collaboration and Fractal Patterns?

Rhea