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Einstein, the Second Law of Thermodynamics:
“The total energy of the universe is constant, and the total entropy continues to increase.”
We maintain our lives by ceaselessly processing energy through the body.
If the body falls ill and can’t process energy, or if the flow of energy stops,
we reach death — that is, an equilibrium state — in no time.
Once dead, our bodies begin to disassemble at high speed, and our physical existence
scatters into the surrounding environment and disappears.
Thus, biologists say, life is an instance of non-equilibrium thermodynamics.
That is, life keeps its distance from equilibrium — from death — and maintains order
by continuously processing free or usable energy from a larger environment.
From The Empathic Civilization by Jeremy Rifkin
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