A Model of Time

Schlatter, Andreas E.

doi:10.3390/e9030108

Cited by 1 publication

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References 12 publications

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“…Therefore, in contrast to the deterministic classical mechanics of macroscopic bodies, the dynamics of molecular collisions is irreversible. As pointed out by Schlater (2007), the fundamental randomness of the quantum-mechanical realm makes possible intuitive time and its flow; and randomness is present when the energy is allocated among different configurations that are indistinguishable and essentially instantaneously interchangeable.…”

Section: Statistical Bases Of the Entropy-associated Time Arrowmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time Arrows and Determinism in Biology

Sabater

2009

Biol Theory

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I propose that, in addition to the commonly recognized increase of entropy, two more time arrows influence living beings. The increase of damage reactions, which produce aging and genetic variation, and the decrease of the rate of entropy production involved in natural selection are neglected arrows of time. Although based on the statistical theory of the arrow of time, they are distinguishable from the general arrow of the increase of entropy. Physiology under healthy conditions only obeys the increase of entropy arrow. But aging, death, and evolution are determined by the other time arrows as well. Paradoxes emerge from conflicts among the specific determinisms associated with each arrow. These conflicts, along with uncertainties intrinsic to the low-number statistics of the arrows of damage reactions and decrease of the rate of production of entropy, highlight the limits of determinism at different levels of biology and its dependence on time span and number of organisms. The recognition of the three time arrows opens new perspectives for the problem of compatibility of the flow of time in physics and psychology.

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Section: Statistical Bases Of the Entropy-associated Time Arrowmentioning

confidence: 99%