I'm having fun with my digital camera.
What I have come to understand about Systems
It has been said that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. This is true because of a phenomenon known as emergent properties, which are attributes that come about because of an increase in scale or complexity of a smaller system. An example of this is the concept of phase in chemistry and physics whereby great numbers of individual molecules at a given temperature and pressure have a certain set of behaviors, which aren't apparent at the solitary molecular level. Individual water molecules in isolation have no surface tension or evaporative rate or any of the other characteristics that we associate with a pool of liquid water. Thus the pool of water can be said to be a more complex system built out of the smaller systems of water molecules, which are then respectively composed of atoms and further, subatomic particles.
Self Organizing Systems
I have come to understand with regards to this topic that instances of systems that are self-organizing tend to require the least amount of energy to retain that same structure. And further that systems of this self-organizing nature tend to result in a process of negative entropy, whereby the system grows while still retaining the original pattern of organization, analagous to ice crystals and snowflakes. This idea has massive implications for all sorts of substances that humans associate with the term "capital." Financial capital, social capital, energy and resources or "natural" capital rely upon established self-organizing systems - such as ecosystems and the laws of physics, and if humanity were to harmonize its existing patterns of organization with these more foundational systems we can safely say that human civilization could exist indefinitely into the future. Whether such a goal is lofty or necessary cannot be easily justified without engaging in an ethical discussion, so it shall not be done here.
Non-Self Organizing Systems & Energy
Conversely one can say that systems that are of a considerable scale and complexity that are not self-organizing tend to require great sums of energy and resources to maintain the structure of the system. This consumption of energy and resources is more analagous to a modern internal combustion engine, which takes in oxygen and fuel, burns them, and produces mechanical energy and wastes. In order produce and keep this system running the system must continue to absorb energy that it did not help to produce and never does produce during the course of its use. This energy must be attained from some place, usually "out there." From this we can say that such an energy source has been externalized beyond the consumer of the energy. When we look to see how a larger system based upon smaller systems that yield positive entropy, we tend to see the costs in energy to maintain the larger system multiply. With regard to the US transportation system, which is heavily dependant upon internal combustion engines, the consumption of energy becomes enormous - amounting to over 140 billion gallons of gasoline an diesel fuel consumed per year. An added effect, or positive feedback loop of a system based upon energy that it does not self-generate, is that it grows and requires even more energy to sustain itself. With every new motorcar and mile of highway added greater increases in energy are necessary to maintain the American transportation system. This can be said to have a draining effect on other systems because of the unchecked waste and inefficiency as the system grows and spreads like a cancer.
Externalization of Costs
The final idea being considered in this section of what I have come to understand abous systems involves the costs of maintaining non-self organizing systems. Systems that do not self-organize require energy to maintain. If the non-self organizing systems grow beyond a state at which they cannot be self-supporting, the energy necessary to maintain the structure must be gathered from elsewhere. This elsewhere, when taken in a broader context, is a misnomer. All of existence is a system, and the Earth is system, so stealing energy or resources that are not ones own yields a loss to someone. These costs tend to be felt by those "out there" or to generations of people yet to inhabit the Earth.
Conclusion
The example of the American transportation system is similar to many aspects of the First World. A great number of activities that take place in the U.S. such as mass consumption of food, entertainment, electronics, automobiles, etc. are examples of positive entropy in the system. Exponential growth of positive entropy in a single system cannot be sustained for a very long time, depending on the scale of the system versus the scale of the entropy.
Some scientists and environmentalists claim that our civilization has used mass consumption of fossil fuels to artificially inflate the carrying capacity of the planet, greatly disrupting the balance between positive and negative entropy on the earth - that we have in essence created an entire civilization that has overstretched the limits of our present system.
Now history has shown us those civilizations that overstretch the limits of their resource pool often fall into a distinct decline shortly thereafter. As is described in Jared Diamond’s Collapse, the Easter Islanders used up all of their island timber to erect giant statues. Because all large trees on the island were rendered extinct the roots that normally held together and regenerated the soil necessary for agriculture degraded to a point at which this complex, peaceful society spiraled into a no mans land of deprivation, social crisis, starvation, and cannibalism. Because our world is so global now, with globalized production, consumption, trade and telecommunications, there indeed are signs that the scale of the positive entropy has matched that of our energy and material sink – our Easter Island - the Earth. So these ideas are ignored at the peril of those living today and tomorrow and next week.
