THERMODYNAMICS (The Second. Law of) as an ATTRACTOR
Charles François (2004). THERMODYNAMICS (The Second. Law of) as an ATTRACTOR, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 3539.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3539 ▶ |
| Object type | Discipline oriented, Methodology or model |
This concept has been introduced by R. SWENSON (1989, p 189) in the following terms:
- “All real-world macroscopic change is irreversible and hence governed by attractors, viz. the unstability of entropy-producing processes. In particular, the 2nd. law of thermodynamics specifies a maximum entropy attractor, S$_{max}$, the macrostate with the maximum number of accessible microstates, for all macroscopic change as {t$-{\rightarrow\infty} $y. In this sense, all macroscopic change is:
1. progressive (goes irreversibly towards an attractor) and
2. goal-drived (the attractor is the goal)
- “The attractor drives the evolutionary behavior by virtue of the instability of all states within the basin of the attractor, but off the attractor”.