tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post2925330751607392230..comments2024-03-28T21:32:26.550+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Negentropy = divine creationBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-50999711649950346972019-12-15T04:58:00.588+00:002019-12-15T04:58:00.588+00:00I first encountered the term Negentropy in the lat...I first encountered the term Negentropy in the late 70s at a lecture given by Jungian analyst Rix Weaver at the University of Western Australia. She was one of the first Jungian analysts in Australia and founder of Perth Jung Society. Given Jungs interest in physics and work with Pauli she had encountered the idea of negentropy in the work of French physicist Olivier Costa de Beauregard (1911-2007!). Your characterisation of the problematic nature of the term and in particular the wee problem of why anything exists at all are exactly the issues that have been in my mind since that night. Further to your point What happened at that lecture was that she was strongly challenged by a representative of UWA Physics Department who had been obvious sent to discredit her for speaking outside of her field of competence. Being about twice his age and a genuinely wise old woman she politely cut the ground from under his feet. I emphatically agree with you that Negentropy = Divine Creation and find that the image the term evokes in my overactive visual imagination is delightfully similar to William's. lgudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12774491337993415578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-57866948028151966662019-12-15T03:10:54.059+00:002019-12-15T03:10:54.059+00:00A side note on science and creation: some time ag...A side note on science and creation: some time ago a nuclear physicist calculated that the fusion of helium into carbon in stars (necessary for the formation of life as we know it) was impossible ... *unless* there was a very specific resonance at a very particular energy. This theorist told the experimentalists to go looking for the resonance, but they were reluctant because his hypothesis seemed so improbable (!) Eventually they did go look for the resonance which they quite naturally found.<br /><br />This was an interesting example of the use of the Anthropic Principle: "mankind exists, therefore this *very particular* aspect of nuclear physics must have this *precise numerical value*." You would think that this sort of thing would cut down on the atheism in the physics business, but it hasn't (at least so far).<br /><br />-- Robert BrockmanRobert Brockmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-83437517664132189692019-12-15T03:02:40.763+00:002019-12-15T03:02:40.763+00:00Crash course in entropy: entropy is just the log ...Crash course in entropy: entropy is just the log of the number of accessible states of a system -- measured in bits, just like information.<br /><br />Simple example: If you have 2 coins and are constrained to have exactly one head, there are 2 possible configurations and thus 1 bit of entropy. If there are no constraints on how many coins are heads, there are 4 possible combinations and thus 2 bits of entropy.<br /><br />One of the causes of entropy increase (possibly THE cause) is the continuous injection of information into the universe in the form of quantum measurements: the number of possible configurations of the universe is increasing as time moves forward. <br /><br />This isn't intriniscally a negative or destructive thing. Indeed, all manner of exciting and fun things have been made possible by relatively straightforward consequences of the above definition of entropy (statistical mechanics is great.)<br /><br />When scientists talk about entropy as an "increase in disorder" and "the universe inevitably running down", they fail to take into account all manner of other quantum and cosmological effects: most particularly, the odds of another Big Bang style energy fluctuation occuring are *not zero* (and thus rather likely on a long enough time scale).<br /><br />-- Robert BrockmanRobert Brockmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-86303225376985359172019-12-14T15:38:51.937+00:002019-12-14T15:38:51.937+00:00@William - Thats lovely! I don't personally ap...@William - Thats lovely! I don't personally approve of the term negentropy (double negatives again...) but I did find myself reaching for it a few years ago. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-76474093602003546172019-12-14T15:29:23.521+00:002019-12-14T15:29:23.521+00:00I have always envisaged what you are calling here ...I have always envisaged what you are calling here negentropy, the counter-entropy principle, as a continually gushing forth fountain of golden light that sits in a little clearing in the heart of a sacred grove and through its action imparts life to everything around it. I mediate on this image sometimes.<br /><br />Just my fancy!William Wildbloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-57541329044840105932019-12-14T10:32:43.065+00:002019-12-14T10:32:43.065+00:00@James - According to the metaphysics of Being and...@James - According to the metaphysics of Being and Transformation that I have developed, this question does not arise<br /><br />https://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2019/11/what-happens-to-human-being-at.html<br /><br />If you can imagine a spirit human being existing pre-mortally; this spirit then transforms (in a continuous unbroken way) to incarnate. There is no 'point' at which a spirit enters a body, instead the spiritual Being transforms into an incarnated (embodied) Being. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-74522552130509895232019-12-14T09:38:53.523+00:002019-12-14T09:38:53.523+00:00Which brings in the question of soul - does the fo...Which brings in the question of soul - does the foetus receive this and at what point? What is soul? Is a divine spark imparted at birth?James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.com