Entropy is Utterly Depressing

Probably Humanity's Last Challenge
November 24, 1996
Entropy concept visualization

I remember the first time I learned about the finality of entropy.

I had a job in the military maintaining an education facility. It was a place where you could come in and borrow military training reading, regular reading, etc. And there were tons of videos as well.

I found a video set about physics put out by Caltech.

It was utterly brilliant. I watched the whole thing multiple times, and I think this is where I learned about entropy.

It's like nature's trump card. There's no coming back from it.

I think if we are to aspire to a final goal, above the trivial ones of our animal variety, it'd be to find a way to escape the heat death.

Notes

  1. Originally written November 25, 1996.
  2. Updated November 2014 to add an image.
  3. Updated July 11, 2025 with a subtitle and a better image.

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