: Fraid you got it backwards. Maximum entropy means a descent into ultimate
: chaos - the dissolution of matter. As per Webster's, entropy is "the
: tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a
: state of inert uniformity." An empty universe has no entropy only
: becuase it has no substance. But a universe with substance has increasing
: entropy with decreasing structure. There is a very good book from many
: years back titled The River that Runs Uphill . If you think of the energy
: associated with entropy as you think of gravity, entropy increases (energy
: is released) when matter decays. The evolution of life invoves the
: creation of structures of increasing complexity and decreasing entropy.
: Life is in effect the opposite of chaos - it flows uphill.
I've talked about this topic at great length over on my Myth forums, where order and chaos are the primary elements that the entire story is built off of, and I've long since comple to the conclusion that you are BOTH right. Chaos, as an antonym, for order implies fewer rules, less stratification, a more "flat" system. Order, of course, means more rules, more structure, etc. More orderly systems usually get "cleaner" on to the point that you eventually reach a perfect, empty vacuum as the ultimate expression of order. Likewise, chaotic systems will degrade, like you say, via entropy on down into, again, an empty vacuum.
Order and chaos are directions around a circular continuum, not points at opposite ends of a line. You go far enough in either direction and you wind up with the same thing. I've actually found this applies to most continuums - creation and destruction, order and chaos, the individual and the collective, etc - and that the point opposite of that far convergence point, the midpoint between the extremes, is what is generally considered the "good" or "light" side, that the protagonists in stories are always striving for. But then, now that you have this continuum of "good" and "bad"... bah, I'm too tired to think of metacontinuums right now.
