Entropy

[Jasper's Selfhood]

Don Corathers wrote:
> 
> Jasper's--
> 
> s~Z mighta been shuckin a little bit. Sometimes it's hard to tell with him.
> 
> And I sure wouldn't want to make a brief for a rigidly critical discussion of V. on this list, credentials required at the door. For one thing, they wouldn't let me in. But I think there's an important point in Thomas's observation--that it is useful to observe the distinction between the voice of the author and those of his characters. Seems kind of basic to me.
> 
> Don

Yes, thank you. I agree. 

Some definitions that go with Entropy:   

Entropy is a "centrifugal force" in GR (302, 324).

cen·trif·u·gal (sµn-tr¹f“y
-g
l, -tr¹f“
-) adj. 1. Moving or
directed away from a center or axis. 2. Operated by means of
centrifugal force. 3. Physiology. Transmitting nerve
impulses away from the central nervous system; efferent. 4.
Botany. Developing or progressing outward from a center or
axis, as in a flower cluster in which the oldest flowers are
in the center and the youngest flowers are near the edge. 5.
Tending or directed away from centralization, as of
authority: “The division of Europe into two warring blocs,
each ultimately dependent on a superpower patron, is subject
to ever-increasing centrifugal stress” (Scott Sullivan).
[From New Latin centrifugus : Latin centrum, center; see
CENTER + Latin fugere, to flee.] --cen·trif“u·gal·ism n.
--cen·trif“u·gal·ly adv.

In GR there is "centrifugal History" (737) and there is
centripital History--"gravitational collapse" (737). 

cen·trip·e·tal (sµn-tr¹p“¹-tl) adj. 1. Moving or directed
toward a center or axis. 2. Operated by means of centripetal
force. 3. Physiology. Transmitting nerve impulses toward the
central nervous system; afferent. 4. Botany. Developing or
progressing inward toward the center or axis, as in the head
of a sunflower, in which the oldest flowers are near the
edge and the youngest flowers are in the center. 5. Tending
or directed toward centralization: the centripetal effects
of a homogeneous population. --cen·trip“e·tal·ly adv.

Again, We can think of Entropy as a fictional analogue to
the physical process we find in the second law of
thermodynamics. TRP is not
so much interested in the second law of Thermo-D (Slothrop)
as he is in its application to a whole bunch of
sociocultural phenomena, most importantly, religion. 

Entropy in GR advances towards
"isotropy" (124), 

i·so·tro·pic (º"s
-tr½"p¹k, -tr¼p"¹k) adj. Identical in all
directions; invariant with respect to direction.
--i·sot"ro·py (º-s¼t"r
-p) or i·sot"ro·pism (-p¹z"
m) n.


"inertia" (209) , 

in·er·tia (¹-nûr"sh
) n. 1. Physics. The tendency of a body
to resist acceleration; the tendency of a body at rest to
remain at rest or of a body in motion to stay in motion in a
straight line unless acted on by an outside force. 2.
Resistance or disinclination to motion, action, or change:
the inertia of an entrenched bureaucracy. [Latin, idleness,
from iners, inert-, inert. See INERT.] --in·er"tial adj.
--in·er"tial·ly adv.


a "Vacuum" (239), 

ac·u·um (v²k"y›-
m, -y›m, -y
m) n., pl. vac·u·ums or vac·u·a
(-y›-
). Abbr. vac. 1.a. Absence of matter. b. A space empty
of matter. c. A space relatively empty of matter. d. A space
in which the pressure is significantly lower than
atmospheric pressure. 2. A state of emptiness; a void. 3. A
state of being sealed off from external or environmental
influences; isolation. 4., pl. vac·uums. A vacuum cleaner.
--vac·u·um adj. 1. Of, relating to, or used to create a
vacuum. 2. Containing air or other gas at a reduced
pressure. 3. Operating by means of suction or by maintaining
a partial vacuum. --vac·u·um tr. & intr.v. vac·u·umed,
vac·u·um·ing, vac·u·umes. To clean with or use a vacuum
cleaner. [Latin, empty space, from neuter of vacuus, empty,
from vac³re, to be empty. See eu-2 below.]
-------------------- 
 eu-2. Important derivatives are: wane, want, vanish,
vacant, vacation, vacuum, void, avoid, evacuate, waste.
eu-2. Lacking, empty. Extended forms *eu
-, *w³-, *w
-. 1.
Suffixed form *w
-no-. a. WANE, from Old English wanian, to
lessen, and wana, lack, from Germanic *wann; b. WANT, from
Old Norse vanta, to lack, from North Germanic *wanat½n. 2.
Suffixed form *w³-no-. VAIN, VANITY, VAUNT; EVANESCE,
VANISH, from Latin v³nus, empty. 3. Extended form *wak-.
VACANT, VACATE, VACATION, (VACUITY),VACUUM, VOID; (AVOID),
(DEVOID), EVACUATE, from Latin vac³re (variant voc³re), to
be empty. 4. Extended and suffixed form *w³s-to-. WASTE;
DEVASTATE, from Latin v³stus, empty, waste. [Pokorny 1. eu-
345.]




progressing in a "long rallentando" in infinite series, term
by term dying
never quite to the zero
." (149) and thus only
approaching the Final Zero"  asymptotically  ( 319). 


ral·len·tan·do (r²l"
n-t²n"d½, räl"lµn-tän"d½) Music. adv.
--ral·len·tan·do adj. Abbr. rall. 1. Gradually slackening in
tempo; ritardando. Used chiefly as a direction.
--ral·len·tan·do n., pl. ral·len·tan·dos. A rallentando
passage or movement. [Italian, present participle of
rallentare, to slow down : re-, intensive pref. (from Latin;
see RE-) + allentare, to slow down (from Late Latin
allent³re : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin lentus, slow).]


as·ymp·tote (²s"¹m-t½t", -¹mp-) n. Mathematics. A line
considered a limit to a curve in the sense that the
perpendicular distance from a moving point on the curve to
the line approaches zero as the point moves an infinite
distance from the origin. [Ultimately from Greek asumpt½tos,
not intersecting : a-, not; see A-1 + sumpt½tos,
intersecting (from sumpiptein, to converge : sun-, syn- +
piptein, pt½-, to fall; see pet- below).] --as"ymp·tot"ic
(-t¼t"¹k) or as"ymp·tot"i·cal adj. --as"ymp·tot"i·cal·ly
adv.



Entropy is an historical/psychological  process, a
dispersion, interminable fragmenting. An 
atomization/voiding of the WHOLE or subject/object, the self
from the self,
man from man, man from god, man from earth. A Fall
and another Fall. Keep moving Slothrop, keep moving....