🚀 go-pugleaf

john baez wrote:
> 
> 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.

John:
 How do you define equilibrium?
Tim