TIME (Thermodynamic)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3572 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
L.von BERTALANFFY writes, (in accordance with PRIGOGINE's open systems thermodynamics — as stated in 1947): “The consideration of irreversible phenomena leads to the conception of thermodynamic, as opposed to astronomical, time. The first is nonmetrical (i.e. not definable by length measurements), but arithmetical, since it is based upon the entropy of chemical reactions and, therefore, on the number of particles involved; it is statistical because based upon the second law; and it is local because it results from the processes at a certain point of space” (1969, p.78).
He also writes: “Thermodynamic time is non-linear, but logarithmic since it depends on probabilities; it is for the same reason, statistical; and it is local because determined by the events at a certain point. Probably biological time bears an intimate although by no means simple relation to thermodynamic time” (1962, p.75).
These ideas seem consonant with research on biological time carried along by P. LECOMTE DU NOUY and A. MISSENARD in France before 1940. This work was based principally on the differential velocities of wounds healing in relation to age. Biological time seems to be not only local, but also variable in relation to astronomical time.