Marx and Thermodynamics

Here it goes, my own little personally political theory.

Disclaimer: I have never claimed to be anything more than a coffee house philosopher when it comes to political theory and sociology ( I do however, have a degree in physics).

Abstract: Basically, you can use the second law of thermodynamics and descriptions of entropy to make a model to describe mankind and society, and that this goes to fit Marx's description of same.

This is done by three premises:

I. This is done by correlating mankind to a physical substance, such as a gas. Each individual person acts similarly to each individual atom in a thermodynamic system. Just as atoms have an electrical charge, and those electrons can move to different electron states, each man has desires, needs which are filled by ability or chance. Just as all atoms are different, not all people are the same. Some have more desire, abilities or luck than others.

II. The region where man lives correlates to a container. This is very dependent upon mans ability to travel and communicate. In ancient times, when mankind's ability to travel and communicate was very small, two separate groups of people which rarely if ever came into contact with each other could be considered separate systems. When they did come into contact with each other, they would form a single system with varying regions. The interface between such regions could be seen as semipermiable membrane whose qualities would depend on the differences between the two groups which would effect communication and transportation between them. Thus if two separate regions spoke different languages, it could be seen as barrier which would inhibit communication as well as a mountain range or sea could inhibit transportation.

III. Things such as resources, information, political and economic power, etc. correlate to energy. These items move between the people transferring form one to another as well as form one region to another.

Thus, thermodynamics can be used as a model to determine mankind's actions, the general rule being that entropy (the natural log of all possible states) will increase in a closed system. Thus, all energy, economic, military,and political power will eventually become even distributed throughout the system, or at least be allowed to flow freely through the system to whatever state in wants. This is caused because everybody has desires and greed. Thus each individuals in the system seeks to fill it's energy states. A few individuals can obtain the majority of the energy (all possible states are available) such as food, money, power, etc., but this is transitory and it will redistribute itself. This transition can be stalled by using various methods. Surrounding the holder of power with an insulating layer which could be represented as military force or laws, or by draining off the energy of another system or region of the system (ever heard of imperialism?).

So anyway,entropy will increase. Entropy will increase because of some of the following ways:

creating information (developing technology)
developing resources
creating people
enlarging the system's container

To maintain a steady state system, energy must be used to offset entropy or the entropy must be lowered. This can be done by pulling energy from another region of the system (such as a refrigerator) or producing more. Entropy can be lowered by killing people and possibly by reducing information if you kill everybody who has that information. Etc.

This all fits in with the teaching of Marx and matches the behavior he described. He described society as following a progression from individual tribes to feudalism to medieval society, to monarchy, to democracy, to socialism, to communism and finally anarchism. This can be seen a a group of systems slowly coming into contact with each other and joining and the energy between them being dispersed between the states, till finally, it reaches the social equivalent or thermodynamic 'heat death' in anarchy where there are no barriers and everybody is equal according to ability. This also fits with where Marx talks about the bourgeois needing to maintain a constant development of technology to maintain their position as owners of the factories. They must create information to act as the energy to keep the system in a steady state.

Anyway, that isn't all of it, but I'm tired of typing. I will now don my asbestos long johns and answer any questions about my pet political theory.