5 - NEGENTROPY & LIFE EFFICIENCY
Mastery of the environment to achieve internal balance is our goal
in life, but it is not without difficulty. When trying to effect control, either we
succeed or we fail. Though success is the goal, failures are rampant, and
they spur us toward greater caution and understanding of our environment.
Earlier, I sketched a number of dangers to systemic life, but I
neglected to highlight the most persistent of all threats, entropy, the
second law of thermodynamics, which not only encompasses all of the
aforementioned dangers, but presents one more constant and subtle threat,
dwindling resources, or energy starvation. The most fearsome predator of
all is not a tiger or shark or allosaurous, but the ever-present force of
entropy. (For those who fear that we are slowly moving toward "rocket
science," let me assure you that our jaunt into thermodynamics will be
little more than understanding boiling water over a fire - a thermodynamical
event.)
ENERGY
Let me first lay a little groundwork about energy before jumping into
entropy. Most physicists believe that everthing is composed of energy.
Some may quibble about "energy versus matter", but the argument can
always be undermined by referencing the first law of thermodynamics,
called The Conservation of Energy, which states that everything is a
form of energy and that energy is neither created nor destroyed. Embodied
by Albert Einstein's famous equation, E=mc² or Energy=mass*(velocity of light)²,
it is NOT called the Conservation of Matter nor the Conservation of
Light Speed using an equation of M=e/c² or C²=e/m or some such relation.
Granted, the definitions are not crisp. Let's take a walk with
Milton Rothman, formerly a research physicist at the Princeton
University Plasma Physics Laboratory:
"We used to call a beam of light a 'form of energy,' but now the
distinction between matter and energy has disappeared.
...
An electron and a positron may combine to form two photons (units
of radiation) ... this represents a case of 'matter' changing to
'energy.' ... But the fact that one can change into the other
now leads us to think that matter and energy are two aspects of
the same thing."
(Rothman, 1963. pg. 27,43)
Further, as "matter" has been split and reduced, every reduction
appears to release energy and leave smaller and smaller particles
which still seem dynamic in nature. To date, no one has been able to
isolate "matter" from "energy", and chances of isolating pure matter
are nil, at least on Earth which spins at about 1000 miles per hour
near the equator and orbits the Sun at over 65,000 miles per hour.
With the entire solar system racing around the center of our Milky Way
which hurtles into deep space, no particle on this Earth can be devoid
of energy. It is questionable if anything can exist without it. As
a result, at the very roots, the extreme roots, everything is
essentially made from one single commodity which, for convenience,
will be termed energy.
From this perspective, our first deduction must be that
happiness is a manifestation of energy. We deduce this for all
other emotions and thoughts, too. If we have differing emotions
and if our thoughts and emotions change, then our second deduction
must be that some change in energy flow has occurred. Either the
presence, direction, or magnitude of energy (the vector) has changed.
If we are to survive, then these changes must be managed.
Fortunately, one bodily organ appears to perform this - the brain. The
brain appears to manage overall energy distribution within the body
and directs energy resouces wherever and whenever needed.
Earlier, an optimum energy distribution, or balance, was stated as
necessary for survival. Adding this, then for the brain to effectively
manage energy for survival, it must attempt to maximize the optimized
state of the system - the state of internal balance or well-being.
ENTROPY
The troublesome truth is
maintaining an optimum and balanced state is not a simple task.
One reason for difficulty, if not the primary one, is the
aforementioned and dreaded "entropy" which keeps getting in
the way. Not only is it a disrupting force, but it is a
draining one as well. To understand this better, we will
need to return to the boiling water ...
Heat and light are considered pure energy, and each can
readily be used to explain the second law of thermodynamics,
entropy. If you set a pot of water over a fire, eventually the
water boils with steam rising out of the pot. Entropy demands
that heat travel from hot things to cold things; thus, entropy
transfers heat from the hot fire to the cooler pan and then
into the cool water. This is a very good thing if you ever
expect the water to boil. (If you do happen to find the water
getting colder, please call your local physicist. You may have
made either a great discovery or a great error.) Other examples
of entropy include turning on an electric lamp at night in your
home. The light fills the room because entropy is at work. Light
and heat are both composed of "photons" (electromagnetic radiation),
so the same rule applies. Restating entropy to accommodate light,
energy travels from high energy sources to low ones, from energy
rich sources to energy poor ones. This rephrasing would still
apply to our boiling pot of water since the flame is a high
energy source and the water is a relatively low one.
This may all seem simple enough and cause many to
yawn, but entropy has other interesting facets which are not
so obvious yet they manifest themselves throughout our lives.
Back to the pot, most cooks would only be interested in
the boiling water, but to understand the second property of
entropy, we need to look at the steam. Have you ever tried
to track steam to see where it goes after leaving the pot? An
absurd idea, isn't it. Even if you tried, it would be nearly
impossible, because steam quickly scatters everywhere.
While sitting in the pot, all of the water molecules are
co-located in a uniform group. Once energized with heat,
the molecules fly out of the pot and are scattered throughout the
rest of the room - into curtains, cabinets, and out through door
cracks to the outside where they are blown everywhere "by
the four winds." Thus, while in the pot, the molecules are
reasonably organized or "ordered." After boiling, they become
very disorganized and fly helter-skelter everywhere. This
is the second principle of entropy: with increased energy,
things tend to go from order to disorder. As physicist and Nobel
Laureate, Erwin Schrödinger, put it:
"An isolated system or a system in a uniform environment ...
increases its entropy and more or less rapidly approaches
the inert state of maximum entropy. We now recognize this
fundamental law of physics to be just the natural tendency
of things to approach the chaotic state ..."
- from Schrödinger's What is Life?
(Schrödinger, 1944. pg. 78)
This still may not surprise some folks, but entropy has one
more "trick up its sleeve". Not only do things tend to go from
order to disorder, but information inherent within a system tends
to be lost. Let's look at the fire under the pot for a moment.
Suppose that four cedar logs are burning and each log has two knots.
We could even have the knots in specific orientations - on opposite
sides or one below the other. Also, as with all logs, tree rings
which identify growth can be seen. Now, as fire consumes the logs,
the knots and the tree rings disappear. The number and placement
of knots, as well as the number of tree rings indicating the tree's
age is suddenly lost forever. Eventually, even the fact that four
logs have been consumed is gone. From the residue ash, you may be
able to determine that cedar wood was burned, but how many logs and
how many knots existed on each log as well as what pattern of tree
rings existed would be totally obliterated. This highlights the
3rd facet of entropy: with increased entropy, information is lost.
"In a closed system, there is a tendency for organization to
change into disorganization, or for the amount of information
available about the system to become smaller as time goes on."
(Rothman, 1963. pg. 144)
This third aspect, lost information, can also be viewed as a
reduction to a simpler state. As information is lost, complexity is
lost since complexity is a measure of information type and quantity.
With the above example of the logs, we had logs, knots, rings, and
a bunch of elements in complex molecular form. Even if some of the
complex molecules survive the inferno, the logs, knots, and rings
do not. The intricate details, or higher order features, are lost
in the fire. Complexity is dramatically reduced. Therefore, to
paraphrase Rothman, as entropy increases, a system tends to become
less complex as time goes on.
Thus, entropy steals our precious energy, scatters
and disorganizes everything about us, and destroys valuable
information. It is forever active and exists everywhere at
once - all around and inside each of us. If left to its
own devices, entropy would literally rob us to death by
stealing vital energy and disrupting the systematic forces
holding each of us together. Our only defense is to go in
the opposite direction and seek order. This was the great
realization of Erwin Schrödinger:
"How would we express in terms of the statistical theory the
marvellous faculty of a living organism, by which it delays
the decay into thermodynamical equilibrium (death)? We said
before: 'It feeds upon negative entropy' ...
entropy, taken with the negative sign, is itself a measure
of order. Thus the device by which an organism maintains itself
stationary at a fairly high level of orderliness (= fairly low
level of entropy) really consists in continually sucking
orderliness from its environment."
(Schrödinger, 1944. pg. 79)
In order to survive, a living organism must climb toward negative
entropy, toward order, toward information, toward complexity.
This approach has been revitalized recently with Stuart
Kauffman's theory of Autonomous Agents and Adjacent Possible:
"... an Autonomous Agent ... is able (to) act on its own behalf.
... In order to be an Autonomous Agent, a system must carry out
work cycles by virtue of which it maintains and amplifies itself.
... At exact equilibrium no workcycles can be carried out. Hence
no Agency exists."
(Kauffman, 1996. pg. 5, 6)
Since entropy reduces bodies of different temperature to a common
one (equilibrium or "heat death"), any living entity or autonomous
agent must move away from equilibrium toward negative entropy in
order to survive:
"The fact that Autonomous Agents are necessarily displaced from
equilibrium and perform work cycles means that agents can, and
do 'ratchet' themselves further from equilibrium."
(Kauffman, 1996. pg. 4)
Kauffman notes that the ratcheting goes until the Autonomous
agents are in the "... Ordered Regime near the Edge of Chaos."
To go beyond would cause the system to disintegrate if prolonged.
In order to "fine tune" its position along the order/chaos axis,
living organisms tend to become more complex and move into what
Kauffman terms the "adjacent possible":
"If building order requires degradation of free energy, then
autonomous agents ratchetting themselves far from equilibrium,
thereby storing energy and 'recorded embodied know how' in
structure and flow to control their own constrained release of
energy, construction of themselves, and exploration of the
adjacent possible, appear the paramount way to build up
complexity."
(Kauffman, 1996. pg. 5, 6)
Bringing this closer to home, one way of climbing toward
negative entropy or "ratcheting away from equilibrium," is simply
eating food. The complex molecular proteins and starches in meats
and vegetables are our fuel source, and by breaking down these
foods, we free energy for use in our own bodies:
"While animals can and do derive energy from fats and proteins,
they are first converted to carbohydrate, or an intermediate in
carbohydrate metabolism, before the energy is made available.
Energy for the maintenance of life is obtained by the degradation
of compounds of relatively high potential energy into products
of low potential energy ..."
(Turner, 1966. pg. 276)
By degrading "compounds of relatively high potential energy",
we are effectively "sucking orderliness" (as Schrödinger put
it) from our environment or "ratcheting away from equilibrium"
(using Kauffman's terms).
EFFICIENCY
Consuming food is just
one of a myriad of ways that we climb toward negative entropy,
and we will delve into others later. But for now, one other
crucial implication of living with entropy exists, and it creates
the cornerstone for this theoretical approach. If entropy requires
us to find, consume, and metabolize food to replenish spent energy,
then one way to minimize the effects of entropy is to use energy
efficiently. The more efficient our energy use, the less often
we must seek food, the less food we must consume, and the less
food we must carry in our bodies.
This need for energy efficiency forms the basis of my maxim:
emotive energy rises to success and falls from failure.
If energy is a crucial and relatively scarce resource, then it must be
used efficiently - sparingly and effectively. And to be effective,
energy should only be used on successful behaviors and quickly
withdrawn from failed behaviors. This is essentially the
underpinnings of the Gregg Henriques' Behavioral Shutdown Model (BSM)
and his Behavioral Investment Theory (BIT):
"In accordance with the second law of thermodynamics,
animals are viewed as behavioral investors that must work to
maintain animal-environment relationships conducive to survival
and reproductive success."
(Henriques, 2001 (b).)
"... behavior can be thought of as the process of expending
energy or working in order to control and structure the environment in
a way that allows for survival ... (this) gives rise to a cost benefit
ratio of behavioral investment, a ratio much like that in economics."
(Henriques, 2001 (a). pg. 152-165)
"Two systems are directly consistent with the BIT's
neuro-economic conception of the selection of behavioral investments.
... the bevavioral activation system is involved in spending
behavioral energy to acquire reward ... and the behavioral inhibition
system is involved in spending behavioral energy to avoid punishment."
(Henriques, 2001 (b).)
Put simply, the guiding principle of survival is: feed success
and starve failure. We put our resources into whatever
maintains or improves our lives while withholding or shunting our
resources away from whatever we deem detrimental. Energy rises
to success and falls from failure. Ultimately, this creates
efficiency for an organism. Creatures which exhibit this trait
are emotive systems, and their energy is emotive energy.
NOTE: Emotive energy is NOT a new form of energy. It is
strictly a quick term to facilitate communication such as
"centrifugal force" is. Just as centrifugal force is really
a convenient term to denote a variety of other complex energy
interactions, emotive energy is a convenient term to account
for the complexities of Kauffman's and Henriques' ideas based
upon negative entropy and cost efficiency. Again, emotive
energy is NOT some new and exotic form of energy - just a
qualification of the old, "tried and true" kinetic and potential
flavors of energy acting within the special case of "life."
Perhaps when living in a "land of plenty," the idea of
scarcity may seem "a bit hard to swallow." Nevertheless,
humans deal with scarcity everyday, and pressure to be
efficient can be easily seen everywhere across the world.
Here, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, scarcity of
fossil fuels immediately comes to mind. Poverty and famine
also exist as numerous countries struggle with burgeoning
populations and limited food resources. Without a doubt,
whether it be fossil fuels, arable land, precious minerals,
available food, or any other "sought after" commodity, the
supply is limited and, thus, must be managed and consumed
sparingly and effectively - efficiently - in order to
optimize its usage for as long as possible.
AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
If living organisms are driven to use resources of the environment
efficiently and direct them into successful behaviors, then given a critical
hazard, a destructive threat, it should be imperative that all necessary resources
be directed to overcoming or evading the threat. What is more, if the extent
of the threat is unknown, then additional resources should be conserved in
case of a long, enduring struggle. Organisms should focus their energy
usage upon any behaviors which may free them from stress and danger.
Energy for other non-critical behaviors (non-critical in that they are
not used in "fight or flight" situations) should be rationed or shut off.
For instance, if a gazelle runs to escape a hungry, charging lion,
both animals consume energy at a blistering pace, and the survival of each
relies upon the outcome of the chase. If the maximum speeds of the two
animals are comparable, then the decisive factor is likely to be minor.
Certainly, if either animal is sick or injured, immature, or old and weakened,
then the balance will be tipped in favor of the other animal. However, if
these factors are not involved, then sheer endurance becomes a crucial
factor. Whichever animal can outlast the other will likely determine
the outcome.
If the energy utilized by either the lion or the gazelle serves
multiple purposes, then available energy will be consumed at a faster rate
than if conserved and focused for just the task at hand, either hunting
for the lion or fleeing for the gazelle. Bodily subsystems such as the
digestive tract certainly consume energy, as in the processing of
foodstuffs, yet such actions are slow and of little or no use in immediate
and impending doom. The immune subsystems which fight disease are also
of little assistance. Who cares if you "catch a cold" while escaping a
lion? Worse, these bodily subsystems suck valuable energy from the body
when it is of critical need elsewhere. Even though minor, such siphoning
may be the crucial difference, as in my example, whether or not the lion
snags the gazelle or the gazelle escapes leaving the lion panting in the
dust.
If the difference between capture or escape is so slim, then
diverting even a slight amount of energy away from hunting or fleeing
behaviors could undermine the survival of the animal. The only way to
ensure maximum resources for hunt/flee behaviors is to restrict energy
usage by other behaviors. The greater the restriction, the greater
availability for hunting or fleeing. With this redistribution of energy
resources, an imbalance will exist. But the imbalance of internal energy
is necessary to maximize survival potential, so it should warrant being
naturally selected as long as it is a temporary and recoverable condition.
Once the hunt is over, energy can be redistributed in a more balanced
manner, and energy for the digestive and immune systems can recommence.
With balance, the feeling of well-being and happiness should return.
If entropy has placed a severe energy demand upon living creatures
such that they must go into an imbalanced (stressful) state during "fight
or flight" situations, then a general subsystem should have evolved to
handle both the stressful "fight or flight" situations as well as the
normal, stress free (balanced) state. Further, since the "fight or flight"
subsystem focuses on external hazards and issues, the opposing subsystem
should focus on internal ones. Where the external subsystem attempts to
maintain effectiveness in the outside world, the internal subsystem should
try to maintain harmony within the inside world (the body). Functionally,
I would call these subsystems the external control system and the
internal control system. As it turns out, these two major subsystems
do exist under a larger system known as the Autonomic Nervous System.
The two subsystems are known as the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic
Nervous Systems.
Rather than offer my descriptions of these systems, I will let
the specialists do the talking:
"The autonomic nervous system is made up of two systems: the sympathetic
nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic
system comes into play following a fright or an emergency, preparing
the body to defend itself by aggression or flight. ... Blood is diverted
from the vessels surrounding the stomach and intestines to those serving
the muscles. At the same time, the rates of working of the heart and
lungs speed up ... After the emergency is over, the nerves of the
parasympathetic system 'switch off' these changes and the person
relaxes."
(Miller, et al., 1970. pg. 343)
Please note that blood is diverted from the stomach and intestines which
are not essential to fight or flight. Blood is, thus, the scarce resource
which needs to be rationed and directed to critical functions such as the
muscles.
"The sympathetic system evokes responses characteristic of the 'fight
or flight' response: pupils dilate, muscle vasculature dilates, the
heart rate increases, and the digestive system is put on hold. The
parasympathetic system has many specific functions, including slowing
the heart, constricting the pupils, stimulating the gut and salivary
glands, and other responses that are not a priority when being 'chased
by a tiger'."
(Molavi, et al., 1997. pg. 5)
Again, the digestive system "takes a back seat" during fight or flight
but is reinvigorated afterwards when the parasympathetic system
takes hold.
If happiness is an optimum systematic state, a balanced state,
where all subsystems of a living creature are being adequately nourished,
then energy resources are split across multiple functions, and maximum
energy resources cannot be directed toward escape behaviors (or as
Walter Cannon called them, "fight or flight"). If an organism must make a
fateful decision about how to direct its resources when facing imminent
destruction, then I believe those organisms which split their resources
to retain a balanced internal state will succumb to the culling of natural
selection. These creatures will be eaten (literally or figuratively). Only
creatures which sacrifice their balanced state in order to direct maximum
energies toward "fight or flight" behaviors will survive. Yet, with the
sacrifice of the balanced state comes the loss of the feeling born of a
balanced state - the feeling of well-being, the feeling of happiness.
Essentially, in the face of danger, an animal sacrifices its balance state,
it's happiness, and enters into a stress state in order to direct maximum
energy resources toward survival.
One other crucial point about these two systems is that they should
have the capability of being active together. For instance, would a lion
nearby always start us running for cover? Perhaps, if it was chasing us
and was only a few steps away. But what if the lion was a mile away?
Would we still be just as anxious? What if we only had to jump
into the cab of a truck or step into a building to be safe? Would we
still be as fearful? Probably not. Depending upon the circumstances,
our anxiety level would vary. Consequently, the two nervous systems
should ebb and flow at varying strengths. At times, the sympathetic
system should crank up a notch or two while the parasympathetic system
backs off a couple of notches. At other times, the roles should reverse
with the sympathetic system backing off and the parasympathetic system
stepping up. Thus, these two powerful systems should work together
passing their power back and forth in varying degrees as needs dictate.
"It is very easy to get the impression that the autonomic nervous system
is composed of two subsystems that interact only to the extent of being an
on-off switch ... In fact, this is only true in the extreme scenario of
full 'fight or flight' response. ... every day life is far more complex:
to varying degrees, the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions (or
some part of each) are on simultaneously. ... the brain is capable of
selectively activating specific parts of either the parasympathetic or
sympathetic systems."
(UHS, 2001.)
Since earlier the hypothalamus was declared the center for
homeostasis (balance), it should be the structure which manages the
sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. And sure enough, it does:
"(Through) the outstanding work of Swiss neurophysiologist W. R. Hess ...
the hypothalamus was shown to contain a variety of control centers for
basic bodily functions and for certain drives. ... The efferent nerves
of these centers, which turn on and off the appropriate machinery to
accomplish control, operate the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches
of the autonomic nervous system. The hypothalamus is thus the point of
origin for the systems that maintain the constancy of the internal environment."
(Wilson, et al., 1978. pg 424, 426.)
With the hypothalamus guiding the workings of the sympathetic
and parasympathetic nervous systems, the ability to remain balanced and
in a state of well-being depends upon the various environmental threats
we face. As threats occur, the sympathetic nervous system gets activated,
and we become stressed. Stress, then, kills happiness (the balanced
state). Once stress is alleviated, happiness returns. Whatever the
threat may have been, when we have successfully escaped or overcome
it, we feel relieved or overjoyed. If we fail and suffer from the encounter,
then our systems remain stressed. In the worst case of hopelessness and
helplessness, our systems go into extreme energy conservation and we become
lethargic as in depression (consistent with Gregg Henriques' Behavioral
Shutdown Model). This biological routine has become so familiar that we now
associate happiness with success and stress with danger or failure. We are
pleased when we succeed, but we are disheartened by failure. With success,
we allow ourselves to be bathed internally with energy. Failure, on the other
hand, causes us to become conservative and to ration our internal energy - even
to the point of placing some internal subsystems into dangerous stress.
With these internal systems reacting to success and failure,
we now have a biological basis and biological systems for reflecting
success and failure, "goodness" and "badness." As these biological
systems prepare us for either a benefit or a danger, corresponding
feelings are evoked. These sensations directly result and correspond
to the biologic preparations occurring. From these basic sensations
grow all of our feelings and emotions.
TIME, EFFORT, and MONEY
To further illustrate the need for rationing resources, let me suggest some
more common terms for human energy: Time, Effort, and Money.
Though the relationship between either time or effort
and expending human energy can easily be seen in any chore around
the house or workplace, relating money to human energy may not
be as readily clear. Nonetheless, money is effectively human
energy. Money has no intrinsic biological value in itself, as
can be seen by placing gold coins at the feet of just about any
creature other than humans. No other living organism, that I
am aware of, would find any use for gold coins. Gold and other
"valuable" commodities only hold value in the amount of human
time and effort that can be "bartered" for them. When you need
the services of a doctor, an architect, a police officer, or a
plumber, you pay money (either directly or indirectly) in
return for the time and effort these professionals provide
as a service to you. (This is true for all services.) If
you have a $1,000,000 painting, of what use is its value if
not in exchange for someone else's goods or services? How
about land? Again, its value is only in exchange for money
or in exploitation by farming with one's own time and physical
effort. And the above exchanges are only good with other
humans. You can't pay a cow to give milk. You can't pay a fox
to stay out of your henhouse. You can't pay a forest fire to
not burn down your house. You can't pay corn to grow. You
can't pay a marlin to jump into your fishing boat. You can't
pay an airplane to fly you to Tokyo. You can't pay a paint
pallet to paint a Renoir for you. Ultimately, money is
strictly a human convention used in exchange for the
expenditure of another person's time and effort. Money
is meaningless without people!
With acceptance of Time, Effort, and Money as
surrogate terms for the underlying common denominator of
human energy, we can now look more easily and clearly at
scarcity in our own lives. If you are like most people, you
want someplace to live. Do you work at a job to earn money
to pay for a home? If so, then you are expending your time
and effort in exchange for money to be used in exchange for
a home. All home furnishings and appliances follow similar
logic: we work for money which we use to buy chairs, tables,
stoves, beds, utensils, etc. What is obvious to those of us
paying the bills is that the available money for these items
is limited. Most of us do not have the money to buy two or
three homes; we feel fortunate to even buy one. Most of us
cannot afford utensils made of pure gold. Just as with
homes and land, gold is a very limited commodity and in
high demand, thus anything made of it is very expensive.
A further test of the scarcity of money is in how we
use it. When you buy anything, do you pay twice the asking
price? If you buy a bottle of milk marked at $2, do you pay
$4 instead? Do you buy bread and pay 100 times the posted
price?? If anything, we look for bargains or the "best value."
If we can get a dealer to knock off another $100 from a sticker
price, we do it. We try to save that extra few bucks because
money is scarce, and we need to use it efficiently. We spend
only as much as necessary to get what we want.
Commodities, though, are easy to relate to "supply
and demand" logic. How about volumteer activities? If
you believe in saving the environment, don't you work to
preserve it with your time, money, and effort? You may
actively clean trash and other pollutants from a river.
You may just simply recycle aluminum cans and newspapers.
If you belong to a church, then you likely contribute your
time, money, and effort supporting it. You may personally
spread the gospel or organize fundraisers. Yet, even for
these volunteer activities, do you have unlimited resources?
We know that money is limited. How about time and effort?
With only 24 hours in a day, it is impossible to spend more
than that time, so time is limited, and thus, scarce. We
all have physical limits, too. Only so many pounds can be
lifted by any individual during a day before collapsing in
exhaustion. Our desire to save our personal time and effort
shows up within a typical, modern home. Microwave ovens and
dishwashers free people of time and effort spent in the kitchen.
A vacuum cleaner speeds and eases the cleaning of carpets.
Power drills, blow dryers, computers, clothes washers and
dryers, these and a myriad of other human tools and machines
are designed toward freeing humans of daily drudgrey - tasks
around the home which are time consuming and require physical
exertion (effort).
Our available resources, time, effort, and money are
limited - scarce. If we are to succeed in life, we must
manage these resources and use them efficiently. We need to
decide when and where to use our resources - detemine what is
the best use of them. Even though scarcity may not "jump out
at us" when we first think about it, after looking closely at
our lives, we can keenly acknowledge the scarcity of our
resources and what a constant and huge affect it has upon our
personal and our business decisions. Throughout society, we
try to get what we want at the lowest price in terms of our
triad of human energy resources - time, effort, and money
(TEM). Out of our need for efficiency comes all sorts
of aphorisms. "Time is money." "Don't throw good money after
bad." "Work smart, not hard." "Use your time wisely." "Don't
throw money down the drain." "Be dollar conscious." "Don't
waste your time." "Get the most for your money." "Get a good
deal." Seeking the lowest price or the least amount of time
and effort is efficiency. We seek efficiency. We abide
by it. When we must expend our resources, we expend them only
as necessary.
Efficiency, though, is not merely a human phenomenon. All
living creatures are pressured by limited resources. A bird can
only carry a limited amount of weight and still fly. Plants in arid
climates must efficiently utilize limited rainfall in order to survive.
A gazelle must utilize its speed efficiently to escape a hungry lion.
The lion, in turn, must utilize its speed and cunning efficiently to
capture the fleeing gazelle. And so it is with all plants and creatures.
If fauna and flora seem sleek and well adapted, it is not without reason.
These various forms of life expend precious energy only upon that which
begets life. Energy usage which does not contribute to life is culled.
Nature demands that energy be fed into successful behaviors and withdrawn
from unsuccessful ones: Emotive Energy rises to success and falls
from failure. Efficiency is the scalpel of natural selection
and the guiding principle of the theory of emotive energy. All other
concepts and predictions regarding the brain, thoughts, decisions, and
emotions are driven by this principle.
To keep in harmony with the theme of "happiness", let's continue
by delving into the impact of entropy and efficiency upon happiness ...
