In the light of time

Abstract

The concept of time is examined using the second law of thermodynamics that was recently formulated as an equation of motion. According to the statistical notion of increasing entropy, flows of energy diminish differences between energy densities that form space. The flow of energy is identified with the flow of time. The non-Euclidean energy landscape, i.e. the curved space-time, is in evolution when energy is flowing down along gradients and levelling the density differences. The flows along the steepest descents, i.e. geodesics are obtained from the principle of least action for mechanics, electrodynamics and quantum mechanics. The arrow of time, associated with the expansion of the Universe, identifies with grand dispersal of energy when high-energy densities transform by various mechanisms to lower densities in energy and eventually to ever-diluting electromagnetic radiation. Likewise, time in a quantum system takes an increment forwards in the detection-associated dissipative transformation when the stationary-state system begins to evolve pictured as the wave function collapse. The energy dispersal is understood to underlie causality so that an energy gradient is a cause and the resulting energy flow is an effect. The account on causality by the concepts of physics does not imply determinism; on the contrary, evolution of space-time as a causal chain of events is non-deterministic.

Economies Evolve by Energy Dispersal

“…Finally, we understand the ultimate motivation of economic activities, not as the maximizing of profit or productivity, but rather to disperse energy. These conclusions stem from the same statistical theory [6][7][8] that has been recently applied to understand diverse evolutionary processes [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. The 2 nd law is found to yield functional structures, hierarchical organizations, skewed distributions and sigmoid cumulative curves that also characterize economies.…”

“…The equation of motion for an evolving economy (Equation 3.3) can be rewritten using the definition of entropy S = k B lnP as the law of increasing entropy [6,8]:…”

“…According to the self-similar formalism P = P j , is a product of probabilities so that each P j is associated with a subsystem composed of entities j in numbers N j (for the derivation see references [6,8]…”

“…It is time to re-inspect the fundamental resemblance between economic and biological systems using the 2 nd law of thermodynamics, which was recently formulated as an equation of motion for natural processes [6][7][8]. In this form, evolution by natural selection can be recognized as being guided by the 2 nd law.…”

On the exhaust of electromagnetic drive

“…When multiplying Eq. (2) with v, change in kinetic energy K follows from the change in momentum [40][41][42][43] …”