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Entropy and relativity

שו”תCategory: philosophyEntropy and relativity
asked 2 years ago

Hello Rabbi,
Following the debate and the column you wrote in the wake of it, I wanted to clarify one detail that is unclear to me regarding your explanation of the definition of complexity, and Aviv’s approach to the subject – why does the identification between complexity and low entropy mean that there is an objective measure? Ostensibly, even if entropy is an excellent mathematical definition, that does not yet make what it measures absolutely complex, if we have not defined some kind of spectrum through which we can identify what is considered very complex and what is not – isn’t that just like talking about a mathematical representation of a large quantity using a very large number (which is of course ridiculous – high relative to what?). In other words, perhaps what Aviv was trying to ask is: even assuming that we have some measure of complexity within the reality that we know, the fact that it has a rigorous mathematical representation does not make this level of complexity objectively high relative to another and unfamiliar reality, with different physics, for example. We determine the spectrum of complexity using the concept of entropy as the degree of disorder of our system, but why is there no theoretical possibility of much lower/higher entropy in an alternative system, which puts the identification between complexity and entropy in our universe in a relative light?
Thank you very much in advance.


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מיכי Staff answered 2 years ago
Because entropy is a measure that can be calculated from any given situation without resorting to comparisons. Beyond that, entropy is a variable in physics that affects physical behavior. It’s not just our way of looking at reality, but physical reality itself. Like Newton’s laws. The question of what is called high entropy is of course a question directed at us. But this does not indicate subjectivity either. It just means that there is a continuous range of complexity levels and, against them, a continuous range of chances of formation by chance, and this is not binary. And yet, for something at complexity level X, the chance that it will form by chance (assuming an equal distribution) goes like 1 divided by X.

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