Have you ever wondered what is entropy or why life is becoming increasingly complicated? No matter how hard we try to reconcile our lives, it seems to get more complicated.
Problems arise in our relationships and family life, finances, work, health, etc. that seem impossible to solve. We are overwhelmed by the endless bombardment of life’s problems and often feel that life is falling apart.
Problems seem to happen naturally on their own, while solutions always require our attention, energy, and effort. Life seems to work just for us. On the contrary, instead of remaining simple and structured, our lives become more complicated and gradually sink into chaos.
Imagine you are taking a box of pieces of a puzzle and throwing them out on a table. In principle, when you pour them out of the box the pieces can fall perfectly into place and construct a completed puzzle. But that never happens, in reality.
What is entropy and Why Does It Matter?
We can define entropy as a measure of the disorder of the universe at both macroeconomic and microscopic levels. The Greek root of the word means “one who reverses the transformation”: that transformation is chaos.
“The ultimate goal of human life, spirit, and effort to use energy and information to fight the flow of entropy and create shrines of useful order.” –Steven Pinker. In Yvon Chouinard’s words, “the hardest part of the world is making your life easier because everything makes you more complex.” Entropy always increases by itself. Only adding energy is the only way to make a difference. The order requires struggle.
Why Does Entropy Matter for Your Life?
This is the natural inclination with stuff to go wrong. Life becomes less and less structured. The sandcastles are washed away. Weeds invade the gardens. The ancient ruins are crumbling. Cars start to rust. People are getting old. Stones also erode over time and are flattened to their exact edges. The resulting trend is to make things less organized. Entropy helps to clarify many of the daily mysteries and experiences. The set of atoms that make up your body can be organized in infinite ways, and almost all of them do not lead to any kind of life.
In a universe where entropy rules every day, the presence of life with such organization, structure, and stability is impressive. At least life is not optimal; you may not have grown up in a culture that better suits your interests, you may have been exposed to the wrong subject or the wrong sport, maybe – you were born at the wrong time in history.
Entropy in Everyday Life
1.Entropy in health and fitness
Of course, as we get older, our bodies tend to get worse and worse until we die. However, the degree of deterioration of health depends on the degree of entropy.
2.Entropy in marriage
Just before and after the wedding day, couples often experience exciting feelings of love and happiness. This is called the “honeymoon phase”.
But eventually, when the couple becomes part of the daily routine, other things take precedence over marriage: parenthood, finances, work, illness, etc.
After a few years, passion and romantic feelings disappear until the marriage feels loveless.
3.Entropy in the business
To generate more sales and higher profits, companies often lose their strategic focus and clarity. Both employees and customers are confused about assignments, competitive advantages, target groups, and business orientations.
Eventually, the company loses its customers to a disruptive competitor with a clear strategy, profits fall and the company goes bankrupt. We often blame ourselves, others, and circumstances for complications in our lives, but we are not aware that the forces of nature are actively working for our well-being. Entropy does not care about your goals and ambitions. It’s about the structure and order of the world.
Without Effort, Life Tends to Lose Order
Every time we set goals and strive to improve our lives, we truly push for entropy. This makes it difficult to maintain good habits and recover from a long-term setback.
Continuous improvement is a must to use energy consistently and fight entropic landslides. Without effort, entropy increases, life becomes more complicated and things break down.
The universe is, of course, in disarray; you need to use energy to create stability, structure, and simplicity. Successful relationships require care and attention. Cleaning and maintenance are necessary for successful houses. Effective teams demand teamwork and coordination. Stuff can decay without effort. We have to make an effort to construct useful kinds of orders that are sufficiently resilient to withstand the constant pull of entropy or your life will continue to become increasingly difficult.
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