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My Final Lecture: What I Learned About Living a Good Life

The Michael Shermer Show

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The Second Law of Thermodynamics Is the First Law of Life

In a closed system energy dissipates disorder increases and things run down. The second law of thermodynamics is the first law of life, he says. Your purpose in life is to expand energy to carve out little pockets of order amidst all the chaos that leads to survival and flourishing. Metal rusts if you don't maintain it weeds overrun gardens. If you don't weed them wood, rots. In that sense, poverty is what societies get if they do nothing productive.

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