🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <bgrafspty2.fsf@janus.i-have-a-misconfigured-system-so-shoot-me>,
Marcelo Cantos  <marcelo@mds.rmit.edu.au> wrote:

>I believe where you go wrong is in the assertion that
>living systems are far from equilibrium.  If you look at organisms
>around you, they are extremely stable entities.  Humans don't
>spontaneously dismantle on the street as a daily occurrence...

Don't confuse stability with being close to equilibrium.  A
system can be very close to equilibrium yet unstable: consider
a marble almost, but not quite, at the bottom of smooth bowl.
On the other hand, a system can be very far from equilibrium
yet quite stable: consider a large rock stably placed near
the top of a mountain.  

Living systems aren't like either of these examples.  They
stay out of equilibrium in the way dissipative systems like
hurricanes do, i.e. by feeding off free energy.  (Of course
living systems do so in a far more complex manner.)  Eventually
they return to equilibrium, by dying and rotting.  People do 
this as a daily occurence, and here in L.A. they often do so
on the street, usually with a little nudge.