Abstract
In this chapter, we learn about a little demon that has long challenged physics, gain some insights into irreversibility through an army sergeant, understand how memory is crucial to forming abstract patterns, and see how information is formed in between the particles of a system. Moreover, we learn why Nazis are wrong in their understanding of entropy, how Indiana Jones is associated with the law of requisite variety, and how tailor-made solutions are formed by small social systems.
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Notes
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Known as the “Bayes factor.”
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The dichotomy of material and non-material is old-fashioned and meaningless in the current science. I use this statement only to address some false conceptions still existing in the social sciences and humanities.
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I thank my colleague the physicist Boaz Tamir for helping me to sharpen this idea.
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The idea of a fractal dimension is beautifully explained at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB9n2gHsHN4. By watching this explanation, you may better understand why the increase in entropy is (nonlinearly) accompanied by an increase in the roughness—or fractal dimension—of the leaf’s boundary. The more constraints are released from the system, the rougher it may become.
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I put the term dialogic in quote marks as it has been severally abused by various post-modernist academics, who have subordinated it to the politics of identity.
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See, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRLwsSbqlwo&list=WL&index=21&t=0s.
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It goes without saying that this discussion doesn’t mean that jazz is “better” than classical music or that trios are better than orchestras. Such a childish and naïve misunderstanding should be immediately rejected.
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Neuman, Y. (2021). How to Understand Small Systems Through a Little Demon, a Drill Sergeant, and Indiana Jones. In: How Small Social Systems Work. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82238-5_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82238-5_3
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