[SinJin]

This was briefly mentioned on another thread, but I was hoping to get maybe some more in depth opinions to the theory that the distinction between what is "good" and "bad" is directly related to the arrow of entropy.



Here is the theory: Entropy in the universe rises, which means that the amount of disorder rises. The universe started in a highly ordered state and is slowly moving to a more and more disordered state. This flow of entropy, or disorder, shining through the incredibly detailed facets of our lives and consciousness in turn appears in the form of good and bad. For example, if you kill someone it is bad because you have taken a life, might go to jail, caused pain and suffering from the victim's family, etc. But stepping a bit farther back, what has that murder really done? It's interrupted the victim's life, a life inputting energy (food, water, sunlight) and outputting work (running a business, working at a gas station, etc.) The work that person did was helping to add order to life and society. But because you killed them, they will now be buried, eventually decompose, and their atoms that once made up their body will become disordered along with the rest of the universe. And that's just the victim! Then you have the victim's family experiencing grief, you going to jail, and so on, which all adds up to a great loss in productivity from everyone involved. A great loss in the ability to produce order.



The can step back even further and relate the same thing to a star. A star slowly burns fuel, releasing heat into space, which raises the disorder. However it does it slowly. If a star were to suddenly collapse into a blackhole, it would be bad for us (if it was our star, the sun) because it would deprive us of sunlight, warmth, and would ultimately destroy Earth. That would be "bad." Relating this to entropy, a star that collapses into a blackhole is bad because the amount of disorder increased dramatically. However, if the star remains stable, then it is "good," because it's rise of disorder is slowed down. Of course humans can only apply the words good and bad to this example. To the universe it would be considered slow rise in disorder and fast rise in disorder. The star burning fuel is a machine the universe created the slow entropy's rise, just as humans do the same thing. Only humans are so much more complex than a star that we have a thousand variations on that slow rise or fast rise of disorder.



I think this theory includes the idea that if the universe is trying to slow down the rise in entropy, then perhaps through life, evolution and technology it's goal is to eventually reverse the arrow and lower entropy.



I would like to know if anyone has any additions, corrections, or comments here. I am tempted to say that every example of good or bad can be related to a slow increase or fast increase in disorder respectively, and would like to know if there any that do not display this.