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abc-5233 t1_ivgf6oy wrote

The Romance of Reality, I find it better that The Singularity is Near, in explaining why the Singularity is happening.

Ray Kurzweil's explanation is "The Law of Accelerated Returns", which is not an actual law. In the book Romance of Reality the author explains that the Singularity is a side effect of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that Entropy in a closed system always increases.

That is, on average, systems tend to be more disorganized (increased entropy). The side effect of this universal law, is that there are pockets in the Universe where the exact opposite happens. Stars, planets, are places where entropy decreases, as a law of the universe.

The Singularity is the inevitable result of decreased entropy because we are in a pocket of the Universe where we entered a feedback loop of loss of entropy.

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turnip_burrito t1_ivgrsfp wrote

To put it another way, life spreads as much as possible. This means a lot of metabolic activity happens. Any physics/ chemistry activity brings the universe one step closer to heat death. We keep trying to order the world around us more and more. Due to the 2nd law of thermo, this means the universe's net entropy will increase with life, even faster than without it.

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DeepBreath1987 t1_ivi54u8 wrote

I am reading The Romance of Reality currently and it has shifted my entire mindset about the universe we inhabit!

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